The Good News of Greay Joy is shifting to and continuing on the Sheep's Perspective (the Sheep's Perspective)

"And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see" (John 1:46) .

The Conversation about God is dead

God is not dead. Indeed, God is very much alive. However, the conversation about God is dead. Killing the conversation about God is tantamount to killing God. The enemies of the Church know this. The Church does not. Can we devote 50% of the conversation to God? Is 50% too much to ask? (The Golden Thread of Conversation about God) (SS)

At what point in Jesus's career did he purchase for us the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) ? With what coin did he pay for the purchase? How much did it cost him?

The gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) that Jesus offers the children of Adam and Eve made its debut in the Valley of Tears when Jesus purchased it by spending his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Jesus renews the offer at every Mass. We can accept it, reject it or ignore it. What say you? Let us bring forth the fruits of repentance (Luke 3:8) to show ourselves worthy of the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) . (SS)

Jesus was dispatched from heaven to make a purchase in the Valley of Tears (Hail Holy Queen) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. It was a shopping trip. His mission was to purchase the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) for the children of Adam and Eve. "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . By purchasing the gift of forgiveness, Jesus would save us from our sins (Matthew 1:21) . Divinity, however, lacked the funds to make the purchase. Flesh and blood are the coin needed to purchase the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . The purchase of the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) is impossible without the expenditure of flesh and blood. Jesus doffed the invulnerable armor of divinity, donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood so, dressed like us, he would have the wherewithal to make the purchase of the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) Unless and until the Son of God became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering, he could not afford the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . Our humanity brought the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) within the reach of divinity. (SS)

The coin with which Jesus paid for the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) was the coin of his flesh and blood. Unlike money, the coin of flesh and blood does not circulate. It can be spent only once. It is a single use currency. Therefore, spend it wisely. Jesus spent his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection to purchase for us the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) . Did he spend his flesh and blood wisely?

The account from which Jesus drew the funds to pay for the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) was not his unlimited divine resources. The account from which Jesus drew the funds was his limited human resources. He paid them all for us. He kept not a penny for himself. He has never paid more for anything else (1 Corinthians 6:20) (1 Corinthians 7:23) . We are a pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45-46) . Jesus sold all he had (Matthew 13:44) to buy us the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) How much did it cost Jesus to purchase for us the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) ? Everything. The size of the payment is the best evidence of the size of his love for us. (SS)

Jesus rose from the dead by virtue of his unlimited divine resources. Mere humans cannot use their limited human resources to rise from the dead. Jesus, however, was more than a mere human. He is both God and man, both divine and human. Through the use of his unlimited divine resources, Jesus performed many mighty miracles that we cannot accomplish. Jesus, however, performed only one miracle by virtue of his limited human resourecs. And it was his best miracle. By spending all of his limited human resources on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus purchased for us the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) . The gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) is the miracle that surpasses every other miracle that Jesus performed. (SS)

We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. At the time that we did evil to Jesus on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we had absolutely no idea what his answer to it would be. God had become a stranger to us. We did not know how sensitive his love for us was to the evil that we would do to him. Now we know. Our God is no longer a stranger to us. We hit the jackpot of revelation about God when we tested Jesus in a baptism of evil. The jackpot was an extraordinary and awesome breakthrough in our understanding of God. His gentle answer to the evil that we did to him illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God. It bumped up our understanding of God from steerage to first class. We deserved a punishment that fit our crime (Matthew 21:33-40) . Yet, he forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Acts 10:43) . He forgave us for the evil that we did to him even though we did not deserve forgiveness. Wow! By testing Jesus in a baptism of evil, we discovered that the dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. The Good News of Great Joy does not get any better than this. (SS)

The gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) neutralizes our sins. "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21) .

Jesus built the bridge of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Our savior gave us a second chance - a do-over. However, he will not drag us against our wills over the bridge of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) kicking and screaming like recalcitrant children by dint of his omnipotence. He doesn't work like that. God persuades. He puts us in intimate contact with the truth and the truth pushes and pulls us. The truth neutralizes illusion. It dissolves it. We must climb aboard the vehicle of repentance (John 14:6) willingly. Over the bridge of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) , the vehicle of repentance carries sinners out of their dire preducament in the Valley of Tears (Hail Holy Queen) , over the Red Sea of death, across the finish line and into the kingdom of God - the promised land flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27) (SS)

Forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) is the bridge (John 14:6) that Jesus built to span the pit (Luke 16:26) that we had dug in our relationship with our God. Paradise is found not at the bottom of the pit but at the far side of the bridge. Our job is to stop digging the pit and to start crossing the bridge. Repentance (Matthew 3:1-3) is the vehicle that transports us out of the pit and across the bridge. No matter how deep is the pit of sin that we have dug, the vehicle of repentance can transport us out of it. (SS)

When we awake with the light of the dawn on Easter and turn our gaze to the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we see a new monument that Jesus erected to commemorate his love for us. the bridge (John 14:6) of forgiveness looms on the horizon of the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Jesus himself built the monument with his own two hands from the bricks and mortar of his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Like Moses, let us turn aside to see this great sight (Exodus 3:1-3) . (SS)

What is the glorious victory that emerged from his ignoble defeat on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection? Jesus built the bridge (John 14:6) of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection on which the vehicle of repentance can transport us from the depths of the pit of sin, over the bridge and into the kingdom of God.

"The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) . Whose understanding is driving them to pursue God by way of the bridge (John 14:6) of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) over the pit that we dug in our relationship with God? The closest that we can get to God in the Valley of Tears is when we make our escape on the bridge (John 14:6) of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) that Jesus built to give us a second chance - a do-over. The bridge (John 14:6) of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) is the place where we go to repair our broken relationship with our God. Only repentance gets us there.

At Mass, Jesus presents to us the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) that he purchased for us by spending his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. What is the appropriate response to the gift? A simple, 'Thank You', is a start. What else does the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) cause? Does the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) catalyze our conversion? Is it the agent of our transformation? Does it gobsmack us? Does it knock us off our horse (Acts 9:4) ? Is it the bait for the fish (Matthew 4:18-19)? Isn't the gift of forgiveness the great sight that causes us, like Moses, to turn aside and see (Exodus 3:1-3) ?

Jesus spent his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucfixion to the Resurrection to purchase a gift for the children of Adam and Eve. The gift that Jesus purchased for us by spending his flesh and blood was the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . Jesus paid for the gift out of his own pockets. The gift of forgiveness was purchased at an exorbitant price (1 Corinthians 6:20) . The greater was the price that Jesus paid in the coin of his flesh and blood, the more astonishing is the gift of forgiveness. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. We deserved a punishment that fit our crime. Yet, even though we did not deserve the gift of forgiveness, Jesus gave it to us anyway (Matthew 7:6) . Jesus took the first step of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) in the hope that we would take the second step of repentance (John 15:12) . While we were still unrepentant sinners (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 7:6) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . Our God did not wait for our conversion to forgive us but forgave us to bring about our conversion (Matthew 22:10) (John 15:13) (John 12:24) (Love is the Gold Standard of Christianity) . Behold the audacity of God! The audacity of God gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . Forgiveness, his gentle answer to the evil that we did to him, is the catalyst of our conversion - the agent of our transformation. "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . How great is the love of a Creator who gives his creatures the gift of forgiveness despite the evil they did to him (Matthew 3:13-17) ? What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? (Psalm 8:4) . (SS)

The gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) that Jesus purchased for us by spending his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is designed by God to be effective medicine for sinners (Matthew 9:10-12) . Beware the miserly Christians who desire to ration the bread and wine of forgiveness according to their own petty, parsimonious scheme. Beware the clerics who do not deal with sinners as Jesus dealt with sinners (Matthew 9:10-12) . The supply of the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) is not short. There is no scarcity. The supply exceeds demand - always. There is no need to ration it. It is the demand that is problematic. Our attention needs to be focused on amplifying the demand. At Mass, we only receive the gift of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) unworthily (1 Corinthians 11:27-29) , when we have the temerity to presume that we are worthy to receive it. "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed" (Matthew 8:8-10) .

Christianity Done Right

Christianity, when done right, confronts us with the reality of God's love for us. Christianity is the religion that challenges us to come to grips with the fact that our God is head over heals in love with us. Christianity, when done right, rubs our noses into this truth. It sticks this fact in our faces. It pokes us in the eye with it. It whacks us over the head with it. The blow gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It is the blockbuster that changes the game. It is the catalyst of our conversion - the agent of our transformation. "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . (SS)

What insight into the inner workings of the mind of God do we discover from the gentleness (1 Kings 19:11-13) of his answer (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) to the evil that we did to him? We discover from the gentleness of his answer that the dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it.

What is the only place in earth and heaven where Jesus spent his flesh and blood? The only place on earth and in heaven where Jesus spent his flesh and blood was the road from the Crucfixion to the Resurrection.

Gentleness in answer to the evil that we did to Jesus illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. "[T]he people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen” (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) . The softness of his answer in comparison to the sharpness of the evil we did to him upgraded our understanding of God from steerage to first class.

We lit the fuse but the Bomb was a Dud

The evil that we did to Jesus lit the fuse to the atomic bomb of revenge, retribution and retaliation. However, the bomb did not detonate. It did not go off. Love turned the bomb into a dud. Thankfully, Jesus did not respond to the evil that we did to him in kind. He did not give us a taste of our own medicine. He did not require "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) . Jesus changed the tone of the conversation. He made it asymmetric - lopsided. He gave us a gentle answer to the brutal question that we put to him on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . With lash, thorns, nails and cross, we sharply interrogated him. “Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe? Our sharp interrogation of Jesus resulted in his gentle answer to us. His gentle answer tells us that God is our friend not our foe. His friendship is real. Reality is reliable. We can depend on the reality of his friendship. HIS FRIENDSHIP IS THE ROCK ON WHICH THE WISE BUILD THEIR LIVES (Matthew 7:24-27). Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid (Psalm 27)? Will our almighty friend ever let us down? Will he ever betray us? Will he ever disappoint (Romans 8:31)? What a wonderful God is our God! What a delight! (SS)

What stimulates our interest in the pursuit of God? What is the bait for the fish (Matthew 4:18-19)? What inspires us to follow Jesus? What turns the gravity that draws us to God on? What starts the ball rolling? The greater was the evil that we did to Jesus, the more astonishing is the gentleness of his answer to it. Our astonishment causes us, like it did Moses, to turn aside to see this great sight (Exodus 3:1-3) . The gentleness of his answer (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . We discover from the gentleness of his answer that the dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. Jesus's gentle answer to the evil that we did to him on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection generates the strongest force on earth. Its gravity draws us to God. It gives Christianity its magic and Jesus his charisma. The gravity of his gentle answer pulls us into a centripetal orbit around him. It is the epicenter of Christianity - ground zero of our understanding of God. To evangelize, take the children of Adam and Eve on a pilgrimage to the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Give them a shovel, tell them to dig, get out of the way and let God do the rest.

The game-changing event in God's Love Affair with us occurred on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection where Jesus verified God's love for us. We put God's love for us to the test (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) . He gently (1 Kings 19:11-13) forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) for testing the durability of his love for us in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . If his love for us were counterfeit, it would have faded as we tortured him and would have died when we killed him. But it did not. His love for us survived the evil that we did to him. His love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) . (SS)

The pursuit of God is our purpose in life. Happiness is the pursuit of God. The closer we get, the greater the happiness. How do we pursue our God? In what way do we approach him? What course do we take to get to him? There is no point to pursuing a God whom we do not know - who is a stranger to us. Hunters do not hunt for an unknown quarry. God is not Big Foot. God does not live on earth mysteriously in an enigmatic black box. Jesus took him out of the enigmatic black box in which he lived and revealed him to us. Jesus made God known. Therefore, before any pursuit, first, we meet him. We meet our quarry. After our close encounter with our living and loving God, we can decide for ourselves the best course to follow in order to pursue him. But, where do we go to meet our God? Where do we go to enjoy a close encounter with our living and loving God? Where is the Valley of Tears dense with divinity? At what place do we find God in his highest concentration? On earth and in heaven, there is only one place - one unique place - where Jesus spent his flesh and blood. He spent his flesh and blood not in heaven but here on earth on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. There he did not spend his unlimited divine resources. There he spent all of his limited human resources. He spent them all for us. He kept not a penny for himself. He has never spent more for anything else. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus used his humanity to explain divinity to us. Take you shovel. Go there. Dig up the treasure of Christianity. Make yourself rich.

What is the point and place of beginning for Chistianity? Upon Jesus's answer to the evil that we did to him, the edifice of Christianity is built. His answer is the foundation of Christianity. What was Jesus's answer to the evil that we did to him - evil both brutal and lethal? Jesus answered us. He did not hang mute. His tongue was not nailed to the cross. What was his answer? Can you articulate it? Do you have the words? His answer to the evil that we did to him is the great sight (Exodus 3:1-3) for which we turn aside, like Moses, to see. His answer gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It elicits our curiousity in our God. It causes us to pursue him. "Wow!" is the appropriate reaction to his answer.

The gentle answer that Jesus gave us to the evil that we did to him is the foundation on which the edifice of Christianity is built. His gentle answer to the evil that we did to him is the rock on which the wise build their lives (Matthew 7:24-27) .

What is the best way to pass through a world filled to the brim with evil? What trail do we take? What is the best practice to follow as we make our escape through our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears, across the Red Sea of death, over the finish line and into the kingdom of God - the promised land flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27) ? Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. Jesus entered our world to show us the way (John 14:6) . "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6) .

The Two Stages of Evil

Evil proceeds along two paths to deliver its sting. Evil works in two stages: 1) the damage stage and 2) the reproduction stage.

During the damage stage, evil's sharp teeth chew us up into bits and pieces. It does damage. Evil takes from us our flesh, blood and other valuables even though they belong to us not to evil. The damage stage is under the control of the evildoers.

During the reproduction stage, the poison of evil's bite tries to transmogrify its victims into evildoers themselves. Unlike the damage stage, the reproduction stage is subject to our control. We can resist our transmogrification.

The damage that evil does to us is real but its power to transmogrify us into evildoers is worse (Matthew 10:28) .

Evil does not win in the damage stage. To win, evil must succeed in the reproduction stage. Evil only wins when it makes its victims evil - when evil transmogrifies its victims into evildoers who bite back. Evil wins when it petrifies hearts of flesh and turns them into hearts of stone (Ezekiel 36:26) .

Jesus descended from heaven into the Valley of Tears to teach us the best way to pass through a world filled with evil. Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. He delivered to us the best practice with which to deal with evil. Jesus led by example. He did not give us advice from the safety of the sidelines as a priest lobs a homily at us from the safety of an ambo. He joined us in the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the war against evil. He let evil take from him his flesh and blood to prepare us for the time when evil takes from us our flesh and blood. Jesus gave us practical advice. The Son of God did not merely deliver to us pie-in-the-sky, head-in-the-clouds advice. He delivered down-to-earth, practical advice. We can use it today, not just tomorrow, profitably. It is relevant to this world not just to the next. Jesus donned the jet pack and flew to show us that we, too, can fly. What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was! Jesus blazed a trail through the evil of the Valley of Tears, across the Red Sea of death, over the finish line and into the promised land - the land flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27) . Jesus invites us to follow the trail that he blazed (John 14:6) . Or we can reinvent the wheel and figure out how to make our escape through the Valley of Tears on our own without his help. Jesus advocates resistance. He instructs us to resist the poison of evil that tries to transmogrify us into evildoers (Matthew 5:38-39) . We conquer evil, when we refuse to be cast down. When we resfuse to let evil knock us off the level of our loving God and casts us down to the level of the most miserable and hideous of loveless beasts, evil is defeated.

The Real fight is the fight against transmogrification into an evildoer by Enternal evil not by Internal Sin

The evil that Jesus fought was evil done to him by external evildoers. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Jesus was well aware of cause and effect. Ordinarily, evil begets evil. It is a vicious cycle. Jesus refused to stay locked in the cycle of evil. He broke free. Jesus refused to let evil transmogrify him into an evildoer himself. Evil did not push him over the edge from the level of our loving God to the level of the most miserable and hideous of loveless beasts. Our enemies are not within us. They are outside of us. The evil of our enemies is transactional not intrinsic, real not invented, external not internal. The threat of the serpent's crosses is foreign not domestic. The questions that arises from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears are 'what is the best way to deal with evil?', 'what is the best practice?'. Jesus showed us. He blazed a trail for us through the phalanx of crossess. He hung from His cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, love as Jesus loved. Hold tight and refuse to let go of love - evils invincible foe. The movement in thinking from an external enemy to an internal enemy has shifted our focus from love to sin. Keeping ourselves sin free does not bring the battle to an external enemy. Only love brings the battle to an external enemy. Only love stops us from transmogrifying into an evildoer.

God is not trying to turn the Valley of Tears into a kinder, gentler, more hospitable place for godless people to live - into a utopia without evil. God wants to turn godless people into people of God (Luke 17:21) . Refusing to allow evil to transmogrify us into evildoers when we are challenged by evil accomplishes this. Godlessness is a sinking ship (Mark 4:35-39) . We are its passengers. The Church is its crew. God gave the Church a rescue mission. However, the rescue mission that God gave the Church is not to save the ship. The rescue mission that God gave the Church is to save the passengers. To the lifeboats! To the lifeboats! Abandon ship! Abandon ship! If the exigency is not felt, the Church is not doing a good job.

Evil invaded the Garden of Eden

Evil was driven out of heaven and precipitously cast down into the Garden of Eden (Revelation 12:7-12) (Luke 10:18) (Isaiah 14:12-16) (Genesis 3:1) (John 8:44) which it transmogrified into the Valley of Tears (Hail Holy Queen) . Evil was evicted but not defeated. The war against evil was incomplete - unfinished. Only the venue had changed from up there to down here. In the Valley of Tears, the serpent and his minions deploy a phalanx of hostile crosses as their fierce proxies to wage unrelenting war against us - "day and night" (Revelation 12:7-12) (Luke 10:18). As we make our escape through the Valley of Tears, over the Red Sea of death, across the finish line, and into the promised land - the land flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27) , evil besieges us. "... [W]oe to you, earth and sea, for the Devil has come down to you in great fury, for he knows he has but a short time” (Revelation 12:12). (SS)

Recruiting an army to wage war against evil

To neutralize the hostility of the Valley of Tears, Jesus did not invade it at the head of a powerful army of angels, riding a tank, armed to the teeth (Joel 2:11) . He could have done so but he didn't (Matthew 26:53) . Instead, He infiltrated himself into the Valley of Tears, alone, riding a cross, and armed with no weapon but love. He was a saboteur intent on establishing a fifth column to undermine the kingdom of evil. His purpose was to recruit an army from the children of Adam and Eve to resist evil with love. Recruitment was the mission. Jesus started the war against evil in the Valley of Tears. He put the first piece of the puzzle of salvation in its place. However, he did not finish it. The army that Jesus recruited will finish it. (SS)

What is Christianity? Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt. The Cross marks the spot of the treasure (1 Corinthians 1:17) . The Cross was planted in the middle of the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 1:17) . Its location is unique because it is the only place on earth and in heaven where Jesus sacrificed his flesh and blood. Grab your shovel. Dig up the treasure of Christianity. Make yourself rich (Matthew 13:44) .

What is the treasure of Christianity? The answer to the question, 'Who is God?', is the treasure of Christianity. Nothing is more precious on earth and in heaven than a high fidelity understanding of God. Furthermore, the only answer of any value is Jesus's answer to the question, 'Who is God?'. My answer, your answer do not matter. Only Jesus's answer matters.

Where in the Valley of Tears did Jesus bury the treasure of Christianity? Jesus transported the answer to the question, 'Who is God?' from heaven and deposited it into a 'conversation' between humanity and divinity that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection (Matthew 13:44) .

What is the Treasure Chest into which Jesus deposited the answer to the question, 'Who is God?' The treasure chest (Matthew 13:44) into which Jesus deposited his answer to the question, 'Who is God?' in the Valley of Tears was a "conversation" that took place between humanity and divinity on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Into the 'conversation', Jesus deposited the treasure of Christianity.

The 'Conversation'

A "conversation" took place between humanity and divinity on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Into the 'conversation', Jesus deposited the treasure of Christianity (Matthew 13:44) . Evil makes its appearance in the 'conversation' - evil both brutal and lethal. Noteworthy is the asymmetry of the evil. It appears only on humanity's side of the 'conversation' not on divinity's side. Hence, the 'conversation' is lopsided. Furthermore, on divinity's side is not just the absence of evil. On divinity's side is the neutralization of evil. Jesus showed us the firewall that stops evil from spreading and contaminating its victims. “Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?", we sharply interrogated him with lash, thorns, nails and cross. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Yet, despite the evil that we did to him, he gently (1 Kings 19:11-13) forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . The gentleness of his answer in contrast to the sharpness of our question gobsmacks us (Isaiah 55:8-9) . The lopsidedness of the 'conversation' knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It is the agent of our transformation - the catalyst of our conversion.

Did God mark the spot of the treasure of Christianity in any way? God pinpointed the exact location of the treasure with two conspicuous landmarks. The first conspicuous landmark is the Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) . The Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) stands in the middle of the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Rally 'round the Cross! The second conspicuous landmark is the Mass. The Mass preserves and propagates the 'conversation' from then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. The Mass is a beacon that repeats over and over and over again the revelation about God that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection.

Is there any other evidence besides the Cross of Christ that confirms that the most important segment of the life of Jesus took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection? Yes. Only during one segment of the life of Jesus did he sacrifice his flesh and blood. The sacrifice took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. It did not take place during the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is instructive but it is not the treasure of Christianity. The segment of Jesus's life that is most important is the place where he sacrificed his flesh and blood.

From what account did Jesus pay for a particular miracle: from his unlimited divine resources or from his limited human resources?

When you come across a miracle that Jesus did, ask yourself, 'How did he pay for it?'. Did he pay for it from his unlimited divine resources or from his limited human resources? Jesus paid for only one miracle from his limited human resources. He made the payment by sacrificing his flesh and blood as he passed through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The source of the payment points us to his greatest miracle. It pinpoints the treasure of Christianity. It points us in the right direction.

It is ironic but Jesus used his flesh and blood - his humanity - to explain divinity to us and did so at only one location in the Valley of Tears - the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection.

Jesus himself built the foundation for a high fidelity understanding of God with his own two hands from the bricks and mortar of his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection.

The road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the only school in the Valley of Tears that teaches us a high fidelity version of God. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus "[f]ill[s] the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . Why did our God send his dearly beloved Son, Jesus, to establish a school for the children of Adam and Eve on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection? "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge", God said (Hosea 4:6) .

The Mast to which wise Christians bind themselves like Odysseus

As we make our escape through our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears, across the Red Sea of death, over the finish line and into the kingdom of God - the promised land flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27) , the mast to which Christians tie themselves as did Odysseus (THE ODYSSEY BOOK 12) is the unique story that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection in which we tortured and killed the God who loves us and the God who loves us gently (1 Kings 19:11-13) forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . Jesus deposited the knowledge of God into the story (Hosea 4:6) . God ceased to be a stranger to us (John 10:5) (Psalm 69:8) (Exodus 2:22) as a result of the story that unfolded on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. When God ceases to be a stranger to us, we have arrived at our salvation (Matthew 16:28) . 'Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?' In answer to the evil that we did to him, Jesus gave us a token of his friendship. The token he gave us of his friendship was gentle (1 Kings 19:11-13) forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . Through his bloody wounds, Jesus poured the sweet syrup of forgiveness into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee.

Why did God need Flesh and Blood?

The Son of God became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. Jesus doffed the invulnerable armor of divinity, donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood and, dressed like us, entered the "game". Why? Why were flesh and blood needed? Were they needed to preach the Sermon on the Mount? No. Were they needed to walk on water? No. Where they needed to feed the five thousand? No. The only place that flesh and blood were needed was for the lopsided transaction that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. They were needed for only one segment of Jesus's life - its most important segment. It is ironic but human flesh and blood were needed to give us an insight into divinity.

The road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is unique in the Valley of Tears because it is the only place on earth and in heaven at which Jesus sacrificed his flesh and blood. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus did not spend his unlimited divine resource. He spent all of his limited human resources. He paid all of them for us (1 Corinthians 7:23) . He kept not a penny for himself. He has never paid more for anything else (John 15:13) (John 10:15-18) . We get a sense of the size of his love for sinners (Romans 5:7-9) by the size of the price he paid out of his own pocket to publish the proof that his love for us is genuine - to verify his love for us. Verification took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The price of verification was exorbitant.

The road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the stage on which the story of God was performed. The story of God was the greatest show on earth and Jesus was the star of the show. We had a role in the show as well. We supplied the evil. Jesus supplied the antithesis of evil. Indeed, Jesus was present in the performance of the story of God. However, his presence is incidental to the story. Jesus's performance in the story of God - not his presence - upgraded our understanding of God. It bumped up our understanding of God from steerage to first class.

The Pieces to the Puzzle of God

Jesus deposited all of the pieces to the puzzle of God into a test that we administered to him on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. In the test, we applied evil to the God who loves us - evil both brutal and lethal. In the result of the test, Jesus gave us his gentle answer to the evil that we did to him. He forgave us (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Matthew 26:28) . He forgave us even though we did not deserve forgiveness (Matthew 7:6) . Everything that is necessary to perfect our understanding of God is found on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection (Matthew 11:15) . Furthermore, Jesus deposited all of the pieces of the puzzle of God into the public domain. He open sourced them. He gave no religion a monopoly over them. Christianity does not own them. The pieces of the puzzle belong to all of the children of Adam and Eve. He entrusted Christianity with the mission to preserve them and to propagate them from then and there, across space and time, to us here and now. Christianity is the trustee of the pieces of the puzzle of God. Christianity inherited its trusteeship from a small, wandering tribe of desert nomads known as the Jews. The Jews had kept the answer to the question, 'Who is God?' alive in the Valley of Tears. Now, it is Christianity's turn.

If you want to change the world, become a tour guide who takes the children of Adam and Eve on pilgrimages to the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection.

What is the relationship between the lopsided transaction that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection and the Mass?

The Mass is a beacon that repeats the revelation about God that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears as he proceeded on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection over and over and over again. The children of Adam and Eve navigate the darkness by the light of the revelation.

Jesus did not establish the Mass for the purpose of displaying his presence to the children of Adam and Eve. The Mass is more than a showcase that displays the presence of God. Jesus wants us to take more out of the Mass than his mere presence. Jesus established the Mass to preserve and to propagate the test that we administered to him on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection from then and there, across space and time, to us here and now. By means of the test, Jesus releases the details of God into the Valley of Tears.

Don't settle for less

Why settle for the mere presence of God when God is making more of himself available to us than just his presence? Jesus did not mount the stage on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection just to display his presence. Jesus mounted the stage to release the details of God into the Valley of Tears by means of a test that we administered to him on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The result of the test revealed God to us.

We have tied God up in knots with rules, regulations, rituals, red tape and rigmarole. We have bound him with protocol and procedure. It is time to set God free.

Theologians go through the minds of hundreds and hundreds of other theologians over the course of more than two thousand years to try to get to the answer to the question, 'Who is God?'. It is an arduous journey that often fails to reach its destination. Why take a local train with many stops when you can take an express? Isn't it better to take a direct flight from the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection and bypass the crap in between?

The Publication of God's love for us

On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus published God's love for the children of Adam and Eve. The format of the publication was question and answer. Neither carried the message alone. Both question and answer carried the message together. Furthermore, the contents of our question and his answer were asymmetric - lopsided - in evil (Isaiah 55:8-9) . They carried opposite charges. Our question carried a negative charge. His answer carried a positive charge. With lash, thorns, nails and cross, we sharply questioned Jesus. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. He answered our question. He did not hang mute. His tongue was not nailed to a cross. His answer was not ambiguous. He gave us a gentle answer to the evil that we did to him - evil both brutal and lethal. The gentleness of his answer diametrically contrasted with the sharpness of our question (Isaiah 55:8-9) . His gentle answer is the Good News of Great Joy. He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . God's love for us rose on the horizon of the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection as the dawn rises out of the night. The incandescence of God's love for us illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. It upgraded our understanding of God from steerage to first class. "[T]he people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen” (Matthew 4:16) (2 Peter 1:19) . Like Moses, let us turn aside to see this great sight (Exodus 3:1-3) . We condemned the bush to the fire to incinerate it but it is not consumed (Exodus 3:1-3) . Its awesomeness gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It is the catalyst of our conversion - the agent of our transformation. Behold our God!

His love for us is real. Reality is reliable. We can depend on the reality of his love for us. His love for us is the rock on which the wise build their lives (Matthew 7:24-27) . Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid (Psalm 27) ? Will our almighty lover ever let us down? Will he ever betray us? Will he ever disappoint (Romans 8:31) ? What a wonderful God is our God! What a delight!

The most preposterous event took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Our God continued to love us nonetheless even though we tortured and killed him - even though we made him suffer and die.

'Who is God?' To answer the question, 'Who is God?', God had a variety of options. God could have answered the question in many different ways. Yet, the option that God settled upon was not a threat, a warning or some other type of ominous communication. God thought that the best way to answer the question, 'Who is God?', was to send us a Love Note (John 3:16). Jesus was the tangible expression of God's love for us - its incarnate articulation (1 John 4:8) (Luke 6:45) . Have you read the Love Note? (SS)

'Who is God?' To answer the question, 'Who is God?', God did not want to just tell us the answer in words. Words are too fragile a conveyance to carry the weight of the revelation. The weight would crush them as flat as a pancake and spill their meaning all over the place in an unintelligible mess. Such spillage would create a theological disaster of epic misunderstanding! In lieu of words, God wanted to show us God. Therefore, through the gateway (Matthew 7:13-14) of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) , Jesus took us to perfection in our understanding of God. Our God thought that forgiveness would give us the highest quality understanding of God - the best answer to the question, 'Who is God?' . "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34)

If you want to approach perfection in your understanding God, there is only one place to go. You won't find God anywhere else but on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the only place at which Jesus deposited the answer to the question, 'Who is God?'. The answer to the question, 'Who is God?' is the treasure of Christianity. Now that the location of the treasure of Christianity is pinpointed for you, grab your shovel, take it and yourself there, dig up the treasure and make yourself rich. Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt. The Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) marks the spot of the treasure (Matthew 13:44) . An "X" marks the spot. Rally 'round the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:17) . The road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is unique because it is the only place in the Valley of Tears at which Jesus spent his flesh and blood. He spent all of his limited human resources on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. He kept not a penny for himself. He has never spent more for anything else. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) (John 12:24) . God, however, did more than lay down his life for his friends. He laid down his life for his enemies (Matthew 5:38-39) . He laid down his life for those who tortured and killed him - for those who made him suffer and die (Matthew 7:6) . How great is the love of a Creator who lays down his life for his creatures despite their brutal and lethal hostility to him (Matthew 3:13-17) ? From the sacrifice of his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we discovered that the dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. The Good News of Great Joy does not get any better than this.

Behold the audacity of God!

Jesus took the first step of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) in the hope that we would take the second step of repentance (John 15:12) . While we were still unrepentant sinners (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 7:6) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . Our God did not wait for our conversion to forgive us but forgave us to bring about our conversion (Matthew 22:10) (John 15:13) (John 12:24) (Love is the Gold Standard of Christianity) . Forgiveness is the catalyst of our conversion. It gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . Behold the audacity of God! The Church, however, has buried the audacity of God under a byzantine codex of rules, regulations, rituals, red tape and rigmarole. The Church's codex has eclipsed the audacity of God. In fact, the Church has sucked the audacity of God out of the corpus of Christianity as a thirsty vampire exsanguinates blood from a body. It reversed the sequence. In the opinion of the Church, repentance is a precondition for forgiveness. Jesus, however, holds a different opinion. In the conflict of opinions, Jesus's opinion prevails. Forgiveness precedes repentance (Matthew 7:6) . Jesus is audacious. His Church is not. His Church has put the audacity of God under a bushel basket (Mark 4:21-23) .

The Bridge of Forgiveness

It is ironic but the Word of God (John 1:1) wasn't an author. He was a carpenter (Mark 6:3) . The Word of God (John 1:1) didn't tell us about God with words. Words were inadequate to deliver the best approximation of God to the Valley of Tears. Therefore, instead of words, the Word of God (John 1:1) showed us the Son of God actively engaged in a construction project on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The carpenter (Mark 6:3) built a bridge. The evil of the children of Adam and Eve - both brutal and lethal - had dug a pit in their relationship with God. Forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) is the bridge (John 14:6) that Jesus built to span the pit (Luke 16:26) that we had dug in our relationship with our God. The pit that our brutal evil did to him was dug deep. Paradise is found not at the bottom of the pit but at the far side of the bridge. Our job is to stop digging the pit and to start crossing the bridge. Repentance is the vehicle that transports us out of the pit and across the bridge. There is a gap - a disconnect - between the nature of God and our understanding of God. As the gap narrows, our practice of life grows richer. We bear fruit "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . When the gap closes, a circuit is established between us and God. Our understanding of God is perfected. The connection transforms us. "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . When we discover the bridge of forgiveness (John 14:6) that Jesus built on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we close the gap between the nature of God and our understanding of God.

The shortest, most direct path to the perfection of our understanding of God is the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus deposited the treasure of Christianity. Grab your shovel. Dig it up. Make yourself rich.

Who is God? Do you have the answer to the question? As important as the answer is the source of the answer. What is the source of your answer? What are the raw materials from which you distilled your answer? Can you pinpoint them for us?

Are you a Christian? Can you prove it? If asked, how would you describe the God of the Christians? What would you say?

Would you introduce us to your God? Please, introduce us to your God. Don't introduce us to your religion, your morality, or your Church. Introduce us to "the big guy". Give us the details. Please, don't skimp on the details. What is the understanding of God that you hold in your head? More importantly, upon what foundation is your understanding of God based? Show us the ladder that you climbed to catch a glimpse of your transcendent God from here in the Valley of Tears. Take us to your God, rung by rung, step by sweet step.

Does your cleric know his or her God? If you cornered your cleric and demanded an answer to the question, "Who is God?", what would he say? Would he have the words? If you demanded that he articulate the foundation for his answer, could he do it? Don't you think a cleric ought to possess both the answer and its foundation? Beware the cleric who can recite the complete encyclopedia of sins but cannot give a satisfying answer to the question, "Who is God?" nor an adequate foundation to support it. Run from the cleric who only knows sins and doesn't know God. Run fast and run far. Don't delay.

Which God do you worship?

Are you worshipping the one, true God or some lesser, false god? There are many different versions of God. Which version of God do you worship? Believe it or not, we kneel in Church worshipping a different God than the God whom the rest of the congregation is worshipping. There a uniformity amongst Christians in their understanding of God. Take a survey of churchgoers. Ask them to articulate the details of the God whom they worship. Don't be surprised that God is an ineffable mystery to them. The lack of uniformity in the understanding of the sweet details of God is worrisome because our God is not an ineffable mystery. Jesus disclosed God to us in an apocalyptic revelation that he released into the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Don't claim that you are worshipping the one, true God unless and until you can articulate the details that define him.

Has anyone built a model of the Christian understanding of God?

Has anyone built a model of the Christian understanding of God (Nicene Creed) ? What does it look like? Does it reveal God to us? Is the model's fidelity to God high or low? Are there alternatives? On what foundation is it based? The foundation is key. The accuracy of the model depends entirely on its foundation.

Have you ever tested the accuracy of your understanding of God?

How accurate is your understanding of God? Have you ever tested it? Against what model of the Christian understanding of God do you measure your understanding of God? Can you articulate it? Do you have the words?

The only model of God that Matters

The only model of God built in the Valley of Tears that matters is the model of God that Jesus built on the road from the Crucifixon to the Resurrection. In the model of God that Jesus built, the sweet truth about God was revealed.

There is a wide gap - a disconnect - between the nature of God and our understanding of God. Jesus was dispatched from heaven to the Valley of Tears to close the gap. Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to resurrect our understanding of God from the dead (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) (Ephesians 5:14) .

The shortest, most direct path to the perfection of our understanding of God is the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus deposited the treasure of Christianity. Grab your shovel. Dig it up. Make yourself rich.

The Package

Jesus delivered a small package to us. It is no bigger than a shoebox. Despite its small size, it is densely packed with the knowledge of God (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . Its contents upgrade our understanding of God from steerage to first class. The package was delivered to us on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. When we unwrap the package, we discover the apocalyptic revelation about God that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears. Jesus added details to the presence of God. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, the presence of God sprouted details as a bird fledges feathers or as a tree bears fruit (Matthew 21:19) . Jesus set the details about God free that had retreated into an enigmatic black box after the fall of Adam and Eve. The package held a conversation - a conversation between humanity and divinity. We asked our God a question. Our God gave us his answer. 'Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?' We sharply asked Jesus with lash, thorns, nails and cross. Jesus answered. He did not hang mute. His tongue was not nailed to a cross. He gave us his gentle answer to the evil that we did to him - evil both brutal and lethal. He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) The package is the treasure of Christianity and a precious gift from God to us. Our job is to take the package that Jesus entrusted to us and distribute it from the point and place of its delivery then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. Let us pass the package around. Let us share with our neighbors the essence of God that Jesus distilled for us on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) .

the Church has squandered her advantage

God endowed the Church with a huge advantage. Its founders were present when Jesus released the apocalyptic revelation about God into the Valley of Tears. The revelation was the blessed byproduct of the test that we administered to him on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. The Good News of Great Joy is the gentle answer that Jesus gave us to the evil that we did to him. He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . Forgiveness is the proof that God's love for us survived the evil that we did to him (John 20:27) . That his love for us survived the evil that we did to him is the Good News of Great Joy - the news doesn't get any better than that! Behold the tenacity of God! Moreover, he forgave us even though we did not deserve forgiveness (Matthew 7:6) . While we were still unrepentant sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . We did not initiate the process of reconciliation between humanity and divinity. Jesus took the first step of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) in the hope that we would take the second step of repentance (John 15:12) . Our God did not wait for our conversion to forgive us but forgave us to bring about our conversion (Matthew 22:10) (John 15:13) (John 12:24) (Love is the Gold Standard of Christianity) . Behold the audacity of God! The founders of Christianity had front row seats to the greatest show on earth. It is written in the prophets: ‘They shall all be taught by God’ (John 6:45) . Furthermore, at the Last Supper (Luke 22:19) (Luke 22:20) (John 6:31-59) , Jesus gave them the keys to the vehicle that God designed to transport the apocalyptic revelation about God from then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. The vehicle is the Mass. The Church, however, has squandered her advantage. The Church no longer understands that the vehicle to which Jesus gave his apostles the keys is a truck whose cargo is the apocalptic revelation about God. The successors to the apostles have reduced the apocalptic revelation about God to a sideshow. It no longer occupies the position of prominence in the showcase of Christianity. They have substituted trivia in the place of the apocalptic revelation about God. They call the most Holy Eucharist, 'the source and summit of the Christian life' (CCC 1324) , yet, they never explain why because they do not know why. They have emptied their minds of the meaning of the Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) . Empty minds cannot transmit the apocalyptic revelation about God to the children of Adam and Eve.

What is the Church doing to make Jesus's understanding of God known in the Valley of Tears? Can we devote 50% of our efforts to making Jesus's understanding of God known in the Valley of Tears? Is 50% too much to ask?

Tearing down the wall that the Church has erected between us and our God

The Church has erected a wall of rules, regulations, rituals, red tape and rigmarole between the children of Adam and Eve and their God. The wall is supposed to facilitate our approach to God. However, it has proved an obstacle in the way (Romans 14:13) . Jesus revealed the audacity of God, the tenacity of God and the courage of God to us as he made his way along the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The Church, however, has hidden these details about God from us behind the wall. The wall is the reason that we do not have the words to talk about the audacity of God, the tenacity of God or about the courage of God. To get at the details of God, it is time to tear down the wall or, at the very least, to climb it to take a peek at the details of God that are hidden behind it.

Beware the shepherds who subscribe to the myth of the "Unequal Society"

Our shepherds have divided the house. And a house divided cannot stand (Mark 3:25) . Many of them subscribe to the myth of the "unequal society" (Vehementer Nos) (Matthew 23:12) (Matthew 12:22-28) and hold the opinion that "...the one duty of the multitude is to allow themselves to be led, and, like a docile flock, to follow the Pastors" ( 1906 encyclical of Pope Pius X titled “Vehementer Nos“) (Mr. McCarrick) . Their spurious and inflated opinion of their own superiority (and our inferiority) is ontological. In the "unequal society" (Vehementer Nos), the shepherds see themselves as the master race. The master race is apopletic at our lack of docility and deference to them. Our sin is that we read, write and think for ourselves and we refuse to delegate these sovereign activities to our self-annointed betters. Our sovereignty is equal, not inferior, to theirs. (SS)

Coloring book Christianity

Beware Christians who advocate and practice a cartoonish caricature of Christianity. Theirs is an infantile view of Christianity. In their coloring book Christianity, we are given crayons and a coloring book whose drawings are divided into parts and numbered. We are admonished to follow the numbers, to color within the lines or go to hell. Christianity, however, is so much richer than the Christianity advocated and practiced by coloring book Christians. Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt. The Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) marks the spot of the treasure (Matthew 13:44) . An "X" marks the spot. At the "X" that marks the spot of the treasure, Jesus deposited an apocalyptic revelation about God. Our job is to grab our shovels, dig up the treasure and make ourselves rich. Rally 'round the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:17) . Many in the Church, however, treat the children of Adam and Eve, well, as children. They ignore the fact that we can read, write and think for ourselves. Christianity is not a trivial child’s game and shouldn't be promoted as such. In modernity, we no longer need or want our clerics to think for us (Isaiah 1:18) . Christianity is about turning the children of Adam and Eve into artists of love - Picassos and Shakespeares and DaVincis of love. "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things" (1 Corinthians 13:11) . Christian, put away your coloring book. Pick up your shovel, take yourself to the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, dig and make yourself rich. Dig yourself out of poverty. Enrichen your understanding of God. (SS)

Pseudo Christianty looks like Christianity but is not. It is practiced by the children of Adam and Eve who are afraid to get too close to the real thing. They fear bursting into flames. “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing" (Luke 12:49) ! Love burns like a mighty flame (Song of Songs 8:6-7) . Love begets love. That is the reason that Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . Jesus ignited a conflagration of love. Our job is to fan the flames.

The evil that we did to Jesus opened the mouths of God

We interrogated Jesus with lash, thorns, nails and cross on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. It was a brutal interrogation. We gave him the third degree (Wikipedia) . “Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?" Our interrogation punctuated his flesh with bloody wounds. The bloody wounds that our evil opened in his flesh are the the mouths of God. What did Jesus say? How did Jesus answer the evil that we did to him? Through the mouths of God, Jesus poured the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. In response to our brutal interrogation, Jesus did not hang mute. He did not take the fifth (Wikipedia) . From the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) , Jesus spoke to us through the bloody wounds that our evil opened in his flesh. "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4) . By his bloody wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5) (1 Peter 2:24) . "For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding" (Proverbs 2:6) .

The odd couple of Epiphany

What we poured at Jesus is the antithesis of what he poured out at us (Isaiah 55:8-9) . Our input and his output were polar opposites - night and day. We poured evil at Jesus in the form of lash, thorns, nails and cross to open bloody wounds in his flesh. Jesus poured love in the form of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) through the bloody wounds in answer to the evil that we did to him. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, our evil and his forgiveness consummated their asymmetric, lopsided marriage. They became the odd couple of epiphany on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The incandescence of their violent collision on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection illumated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.

The Spotlight of Evil

God decided that the best way to re-introduce the knowledge of God into the Valley of Tears (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) was to turn the spotlight of evil on and shine its dark light on Jesus. Evil's illumination highlighted how divinity works (Isaiah 55:8-9) . We took from Jesus his flesh and blood (Mark 7:21) even though they did not belong to us. He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) even though we did not deserve forgiveness. The discovery of how divinity works gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It is the blockbuster that changes the game. It is the catalyst of our conversion.

Why did God give us two hands?

Why did God give us two hands? We need two hands to hold two important buckets of knowledge so we can contemplate the details of each and the relationship between both. One hand is not enough. A third hand is superfluous. One hand holds the sharp question we put to Jesus with lash, thorns, nails and cross. 'Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?' We interrogated him with evil - evil both brutal and lethal. The other hand holds his gentle answer to the evil that we did to him. Our evil + his gentle answer = the odd couple of epiphany. The odd couple of epiphany revealed God to us. The incandescence of their marriage that was consummated on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany (John 1:5) (Psalm 43:3) . By means of their marriage, the odd couple of epiphany made God known to us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) . They upgraded our understanding of God - bumped it up from coach to first class.

Opening and Understanding the Contents of the Enigmatic Black Box into which God retreated after the fall of Adam and Eve

As a consequence of the fall of Adam and Eve, our God retreated into an enigmatic black box. "Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour" (Isaiah 45:15) . Only his presence stayed behind in the Valley of Tears with the children of Adam and Eve - but none of the details. God had become a stranger to us (John 10:5) (Psalm 69:8) (Exodus 2:22) . “And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers” (John 10:5) . Since the fall of Adam and Eve, the children of Adam and Eve have tried to open the enigmatic black box to get at the details of God. For the most part, their investigations have failed. So Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to release the details about God from the enigmatic black box and into the Valley of Tears. He came to set the details about God free. Jesus released God from the enigmatic black box on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, the presence of God sprouted details as a bird fledges feathers or as a tree bears fruit (Matthew 21:19) . Moreover, Jesus gave the children of Adam and Eve a vehicle to transport the details about God from the place of their birth then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. The vehicle is the Mass. Jesus also established a Church to operate the vehicle.

If a moratorium were called banning us from talking about anything else but God, would we have anything to say?

Our Clerics have Cut Jesus's Tongue out of his mouth

We kneel together to worship at the same Mass. But, each of us worships a different God. There is no uniformity in our understanding of God. Why is this happening? In their pathological obsession over the presence of God, our clerics do not promote the story of God that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Our clerics separate the story of God from the storyteller, ignore it, and, instead, emphasize the presence of the storyteller. In this way, they cut God's tongue out of his mouth. They make God mute. The presence of the storyteller does not communicate anything to us. Only the story of the storyteller communicates to us. The presence of the storyteller is incidental to the story. We go to a concert to hear a singer sing or a band play not just to see them standing mute on a stage. Jesus sang his greatest hit on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. In his greatest hit, Jesus revealed God to us. Have you listened to the lyrics? Can you sing along?

Osmosis does not work

A singer is known by his song, an artist is known by his art, a tree is known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45) and the storyteller by his story (not his presence). Osmosis does not work. Close proximity to the real presence of God does not transfer the knowledge of God to us. To transfer the knowledge of God to us, the story of God that Jesus deposited into the events that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection needs to be told. Why settle for a suntan when we can hear the sun speaking to us? Indeed, his presence is real. However, the presence of the storyteller is only incidental to the story. Our God is not a mute presence. Our God revealed himself to us in a story - his final and most important parable. The story is propagated from then and there, across space and time, to us here and now. The vehicle of propagation is the Mass. Have you read the story of God as told by Jesus as we rammed him through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection? Can you retell it? A cleric who focuses on the presence of the storyteller and not on the story of the storyteller makes God a mute. He cuts God's tongue out of his mouth.

The Jackpot

Love in the form of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) is the jackpot (Matthew 13:44) that we hit when we tortured and killed the God who loves us and made the God who loves us suffer and die. What were we thinking? "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) .

The foundation on which we build our understanding of God

Who poured the the foundation on which we build our understanding of God? Jesus himself did.

Where did Jesus pour the foundation? He poured the foundation on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection.

What was the foundation that Jesus poured? He let us test him in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . We put our God to the test (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) .

What was the result of the test? The result of the test verified that the Love Note that God sent us was authentic.

God dared us. "Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure!" (Malachi 3:10) (John 7:38) . The result of the test was this: Jesus released the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) .

Is your answer to the question, 'Who is God?' the same as the answer that the Son of God gave to us? Your answer to the question, 'Who is God?' must yield to Jesus's answer. It must bend the knee. Why? Only Jesus has seen and knows the Father (John 6:38-46) (Matthew 11:27) (John 8:19) . In fact, God banned us from making representations of him in the first place because of the low fidelity of human made representations (Exodus 20:4-6) (Deuteronomy 5:7-9) (Isaiah 44:6-18) (Micah 1:7) (Hosea 13) . If you did not get your representation of the reality of God directly from the hands of Jesus himself, the odds are that the picture of God that you hold in your head is inaccurate, that is, it is a low fidelity representation of the reality of God - a cheap, low quality imitation - a knockoff. A knockoff is of dubious value to you. Better no representation of the reality of God than a low fidelity representation of him.

Let's set God Free!

On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus took God out of the black box of mystery and showed us that God's love for us is courageous, audacious and tenacious. Jesus revealed the glorious details about God to us (John 14:8-9) . The veil between heaven and earth was rent in twain from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51) and, through the rent in the veil, we catch a glimpse of our transcendent God from here on earth.

Jesus knew that, in order to reveal God to us, he would pay the exorbitant cost of the revelation in the coin of his flesh and blood yet he proceeded forth anyway (Matthew 16:21) . He did not pay the cost of the reveleation from his unlimited divine resources. He paid all of his limited human resources for us (1 Corinthians 7:23) . He kept not a penny for himself. He has never paid more for anything else (John 15:13) (John 10:15-18) . Hence, he was courageous.

While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . We did not initiate the process of reconciliation between humanity and divinity. Jesus took the first step of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) in the hope that we would take the second step of repentance (John 15:12) . Our God did not wait for our conversion to forgive us but forgave us to bring about our conversion (Matthew 22:10) (John 15:13) (John 12:24) (Love is the Gold Standard of Christianity) . Hence, he was audacious.

His love for us survived the evil that we did to him (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) . If his love for us were counterfeit, it would have faded as we tortured him and would have died when we killed him. But it did not. His love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) . Hence, he was tenacious.

The courage, tenacity and audacity of Jesus's testimony (John 18:37-38) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection verified the genuineness of God's love for us. His courage, tenacity and audacity are the proof that God's love for us is real.

The Church, however, has buried God's courage, audacity and tenacity deep under layer upon layer of rules, regulations, rituals, red tape and rigmarole. The nitty-gritty covering God is so thick that God is no longer visible - no longer approachable. The thick layers of nitty-gritty get in the way. So, let's dig God up, scrape off the nitty-gritty, and show the world his beauty, power and pizzazz. "Shock and awe", why don't we?

Who is the God of the Christians?

To answer the question, 'Who is God', God sent us a Love Note. To verify the authenticity of the Love Note, God let us test it in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Who is the God of the Christians? Christianity is the religion 1) whose God sent the children of Adam and Eve a Love Note and 2) who let them verify the authenticity of the Love Note by putting it to a brutal and lethal test. The greater was the difficulty of the test, the greater is our astonishment at the authenticity of the Love Note. (SS)

The Mission of Jesus

Jesus did not come to rule us. He came to love us. Our understanding of Christianity is flawed if we do not recognize and appreciate this distinction. "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19) (John 13:35) (Matthew 22:36-40) (1 John 4: 7-12). He is our lover not our king. God dispatched the Word of God (John 1:1) from heaven to the Valley of Tears as the incarnate expression of his love of us - its articulation. Jesus was the Love Note that God sent us. Imagine that! Our God sent us a Love Note! He was God's invitation to fill our hearts to the brim with love (Ezekiel 36:26) . The appropriate response is to do so. Christianity is propagated by love not by words. Therefore, more revelation; less regulation. More witness; less king. More God; less Church. More Mary; less Martha. More pizzazz; less nitty-gritty. No change in doctrine; just a change in emphasis - a tweak, nothing more.

the nucleus of a conception

The fundamental unit of thinking is the troika of question, answer, and foundation. They are the sub-atomic particles that form the nucleus of a conception. The sub-atomic particles that form the nucleus of a conception do not carry the same persuasive force. A question and an answer are neutral particles. They do not carry any persuasive force. A foundation is a charged particle. It is the particle that carries the persuasive force. An answer to a question derives its strength from its foundation. A weak foundation begets a weak answer; a strong foundation begets a strong answer. Foundations run the gamut from sand to rock (Matthew 7:24-27) . The weakest of foundations is authority. The strongest foundation is intimate contact with the truth itself. Authority is no substitute for intimate contact with the truth itself. Intimate contact with the truth itself packs the strongest persuasive punch. It gives our rationality a powerful wallop.

Jesus released the sweet truth about God into the Valley of Tears

Jesus released the sweet truth about God into the Valley of Tears as we forced him through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The evil that we did to him squeezed the sweet truth about God out of him. The sweet truth about God that Jesus released diluted the toxicity of the Valley of Tears in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus verified that the Love Note that God sent us was authentic. God's love for us is real. Reality is reliable. We can rely on the reality of God's love for us. HIS LOVE FOR US IS THE ROCK UPON WHICH THE WISE BUILD THEIR LIVES (Matthew 7:24-27). Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid (Psalm 27)? Will our almighty LOVER ever let us down? Will he ever betray us? Will he ever disappoint (Romans 8:31)? What a wonderful God is our God! What a delight! (SS)

The Highest Authority is the Truth

The highest authority is the truth. "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32) . God open sourced the truth. Cherish the truth that Jesus deposited into the public domain. Nobody - not even a Church - has a monopoly over the truth. Beware anyone who claims exclusive ownership of the truth. Under such a false claim, the truth is often distorted. Keeping the truth out of private hands and in the public domain safeguards it from distortion.

A high fidelity understanding of God is not enough. We must become fluent in articulating it.

There is no worse nakedness than the nakedness of a child of Adam and Eve who cannot articulate his understanding of God (Genesis 3:10-11) ! Let us help you get properly dressed (Matthew 25:36) .

To what foundation do you anchor your understanding of God? Is it specific or general? If you cannot put your finger on it, you have a low fidelity understanding of God - a poor approximation of God. Sorry.

To what foundation do you anchor your understanding of God? Your understanding of God is only as good as its foundation. It derives its strength from its foundation. A weak foundation begets a weak understanding of God; a strong foundation begets a strong understanding of God. Foundations run the gamut from sand to rock (Matthew 7:24-27) . The strongest foundation is intimate contact with the truth itself. Intimate contact with the truth itself packs the strongest persuasive punch. It gives our rationality a powerful wallop. God is the artist who paints the Masterpiece of Reality on the Canvas of our Rationality in the Pigments of Truth . “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32) . God is rescuing us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears by putting us in intimate contact with the truth - both the sweet truth and the sour truth. The sweet truth and the sour truth are the engines that generate the current of salvation. The current of salvation sweeps us off our feet and carries us to our salvation. Few swim against the tide. Rational creatures seek the sweetness of paradise and flee the sourness of godlessness. It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise. It is crazy to do otherwise. In lieu of intimate contact with the truth itself, some try to substitute authority. Authority, however, is a poor substitute for intimate contact with the truth itself. It is the weakest of foundations. For authority to work, it requires a respect for it - a requirement that is often lacking. Authority is dependent on respect. The truth, on the other hand, needs only to be experienced. For it to push and pull, it only needs to be felt. The truth is independent of our belief or disbelief in it.

One camp of Christianity reduces it to a byzantine codex of rules, regulations, rituals, red tape and rigmarole. It is opposed by the camp of Christianity that elevates it to love. To which camp do you belong? Which camp better illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God?

Our perspective makes a difference

We can look upon Christianity as a rule book. Or we can look upon Christianity as a love story. How do you view Christianity? Our perspective makes a difference. Those who look upon Christianity as a rule book, see it as a legalistic endeavor of compliance and non-compliance with the Chruch's byzantine codex of rules, regulations, rituals, red tape and rigmarole. Those who look upon Christianity as a love story, see it as love flowing from Jesus into us and from us into our circumstances - they see Christianity as a bucket brigade of love. Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt. The Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) marks the spot of the treasure (Matthew 13:44) . An "X" marks the spot. At the "X" that marks the spot of the treasure, Jesus deposited an apocalyptic revelation about God. There, Jesus revealed God to us. He did not deposit at the 'X' that marks the spot of the treasure the Church's byzantine codex of rules, regulations, rituals, red tape and rigmarole. The Church's byzantine codex of rules, regulations, rituals, red tape and rigmarole came later and not from Jesus but from his Church. The Church buried the details about the God who loves us that Jesus deposited on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection - his courage, his audacity and his tenacity [acronym, CAT] - deep under layer upon layer of rules, regulations, rituals, red tape and rigmarole. The nitty-gritty covering the courage, audacity and tenacity of God is so thick that God is no longer visible - no longer approachable. The thick layers of nitty-gritty get in the way. So, let's dig God up, scrape off the nitty-gritty, and show the world his beauty, power and pizzazz. "Shock and awe", why don't we? The Church's byzantine codex of rules, regulations, rituals, red tape and rigmarole are supposed to be revelatory. They are meant to show us an aspect of the God who loves us. However, they have become obfuscatory. They get in the way. They have become a stumbling block (Romans 14:13) in our way to God.

Can you pinpoint the location where Jesus packed the Valley of Tears most densely with divinity?

Where in the Valley of Tears did Jesus deposit the knowledge of God in its the highest concentration? Where is the world dense with divinity? Is there a specific, well-defined place? Can you pinpoint its location? Can you narrow it down to plus or minus a few square feet? Where in the Valley of Tears did Jesus bury the treasure that he transported from heaven to earth (Matthew 13:44) ?

The Big Picture

Some chapters of the life of Jesus are more important than others. The more important chapters revolve around his flesh and blood. His flesh and blood are the engines that drive the story of God from its beginning, through its middle, to its end. The subset of the life of Jesus that does not involve his flesh and blood is obiter dicta. The obiter dicta are ornaments that hang from the story of God. For sure, wisdom, lessons and rules of conduct can be found in the obiter dicta. However, don't let the obiter dicta distract you from the story of God as told by Jesus's flesh and blood. It is what matters most. It is the framework that must first be understood in order to understand everything else. the story of God as told by Jesus's flesh and blood is the trail that Jesus blazed that takes us through the narrow gate of the Valley of Tears into the inner workings of the mind of God. To upgrade our understanding of God from a poor approximation to the best approximation of God, we follow the trail of Jesus's flesh and blood as they proceed through the Valley of Tears.

Note: When we isolate indivdual incidents in the life of Jesus in order to extrapolate them into a lesson or a rule of conduct, the risk is that we lose sight of the Big Picture.

"Follow, yes, follow the bouncing ball. Follow it, follow it, over the wall. Mellow and yellow and tangerine. Welcome to the rythym of my tambourine" (Steve And Albert - Follow The Bouncing Ball) . His flesh and blood are the bouncing ball. Don't take your eye off them.

The language in which Jesus "told" the story of God was the language of his flesh and blood

The road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection was the stage on which Jesus performed the story of God. It was the greatest show on earth and Jesus was the star of the show. Jesus's performance in the story of God upgraded our understanding of God. It bumped up our understanding of God from steerage to first class. The story of God was a parable - his greatest and last. However, it differed from his other parables in that it actualy took place. Jesus told us the story of God by means of his flesh and blood. His flesh and blood were the vehicles that Jesus used to carry the story of God from its beginning, through its middle, to its end. Each chapter in the story of God involves his flesh and blood. Everything else that took place in the life of Jesus not involving his flesh and blood is obiter dicta. In the Incarnation, the Son of God doffed his invincible armor of divinity, donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood and, dressed like us, became an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. At the Last Supper, Jesus put an equal sign between his flesh and blood and our food and drink. He made the equation. Jesus transubstantiated the flesh and blood of sacrifice into the bread and wine of forgiveness. Jesus's announcement of the equation at the Last Supper shifted the paradigm. (Wikipedia) . The new paradigm that Jesus announced at the Last Supper was put to the test for the first time in the real world in a lopsided transaction that took place between creatures and Creator on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. During the Crucifixion, we took from him his flesh and blood even though his flesh and blood belonged to him and did not belong to us. In the Resurrection, Jesus resurrected our understanding of God from the dead. He gave us his gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him. He forgave us (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Matthew 26:28) . He forgave us even though we did not deserve forgiveness. At Mass, Jesus himself serves us the bread and wine of forgiveness as we take from him the flesh and blood of sacrifice. The story of God that Jesus told us by means of his flesh and blood as we forced him through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.

The Language of Suffering is our Native Tongue. All creatures who suffer understand it.

Only one universal language survived the great tongue-twisting of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) , that is, the language of suffering. The language of suffering is our native tongue. All creatures who suffer understand it. The language of suffering is a simple language. It works like this. Nobody signs up to dive headfirst or, for that matter, even dip his toe into the boiling cauldron of suffering unless they are insane or something important outweighs the high cost of suffering. We understand that suffering is an exorbitant price we only willingly pay for something that is extremely dear to us. Jesus paid the exorbitant price because we are extremely dear to Him  (Matthew 10:29-31)  . "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) (John 12:24) . Jesus did not speak to us in the language of divinity. As creatures of flesh and blood, we do not understand the language of divinity. Jesus did not speak to us in the language of the angels. As creatures of flesh and blood, we do not understand the language of angels. Jesus answered the question, 'Who is God?' in the language of suffering because he wanted to make sure that all of the children of Adam and Eve understood his answer. We are extremely dear to him. God is head over heels in love with us. The Son of God became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering - so we could become an equal to him in his divinity - a partner with him in his glory  (Romans 8:17)  (John 1:12) .

God wrote his message of love in the ink of suffering

God thought that the best way to answer the question, 'Who is God', was to send us a Love Note and to verify it (John 3:16). So, God wrote his message of love in the ink of suffering. The ink of suffering guarantees the genuineness of the Love Note. If God's love for us were counterfeit, it would have faded as we tortured him and died when we killed him. However, it did not. His love for us survived the evil that we did to him. Jesus was the tangible expression of God's love for us - its incarnate articulation (1 John 4:8) (Luke 6:45) . By baptizing Jesus in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) , we discovered that the dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. God blessed us with not one but with two tokens of his love: 1) a Love Note and 2) its verification. His love for us is real. Reality is reliable. We can depend on the reality of his love for us. His love for us is the rock on which the wise build their lives (Matthew 7:24-27) . Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid (Psalm 27) ? Will our almighty lover ever let us down? Will he ever betray us? Will he ever disappoint (Romans 8:31) ? What a wonderful God is our God! What a delight!

Who is God?

Who is in possession of the best answer - a high fidelity representation of the reality of God - the best approximation of God? In the fullness of time, God himself answered the question. God could have answered the question, 'Who is God?', in many different ways. He had a variety of options. Yet, the option that God settled upon was not a threat, a warning or some other type of ominous communication. God thought that the best answer to the question, 'Who is God?', was a Love Note. What genre of literature is the Word of God (John 1:1) ? The Word of God (John 1:1) is a Love Note - a Love Note from God to us. Jesus was the tangible expression of God's love for us - its incarnate articulation (1 John 4:8) (Luke 6:45) . Have you read the Love Note? Moreover, God went one step further. He did not expect us to believe that the Love Note was genuine without proof (John 20:24-29) . So, in addition to sending us the Love Note, God put into our hands a certificate of its authenticity. He verified it. If God's love for us were counterfeit, it would have faded as we tortured him and died when we killed him. But, it did not. His love for us survived the evil that we did to him. Jesus verified the Love Note by forgiving us for the evil that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . Forgiveness was the verification. Forgiveness means that his love for us survived the evil that we did to him. Are you privy to its verification? The Verified Love Note is the treasure of Christianity. Forgiveness was the vehicle that Jesus chose to transport us into the inner workings of the mind of God (Isaiah 55:8-9) (1 Corinthians 2:9) . To know forgiveness is to know love (Luke 6:43-45) . To know love is to know God (1 John 4:8) . To know God is to have eternal life (John 17:3) .

Who is God?

Measure a child of Adam and Eve solely by his or her answer to the question, 'Who is God?'. Challenge the impostors - challenge the counterfeit Christians - by demanding their answer to the question, 'Who is God?'. Watch them expose themselves as frauds. Disregard their titles of Pope, Bishop, Monsignor, Priest, Pastor or, for that matter, Christian. That they were awarded a doctorate in divinity makes no difference. Only their answer to the question, 'Who is God?' gives them their credibility - makes them authoritative. The only credential that matters is their answer to the question, 'Who is God?'. But be forewarned. If you pursue this line of inquiry with them, you will embarrass them. They do not have an answer. They will give you a song and a dance instead of an answer. Without being grounded in a high fidelity understanding of God, they pollute Christianity with nonsense. They pull down the edifice of Christianity by their ignorance of its foundation. Stop the charlatans. Ask them the question. Moreover, when you are asking them the question, keep this fundamental principle of the science of rationality in mind. Their answer is only as good as the foundation on which it rests. It derives its strength from its foundation. A weak foundation begets a weak answer; a strong foundation begets a strong answer. Foundations run the gamut from sand to rock (Matthew 7:24-27) . The strongest foundation is intimate contact with the truth itself. Intimate contact with the truth itself packs the strongest persuasive punch. It gives our rationality a powerful wallop. Therefore, also ask them this: To what foundation do you anchor your answer? Unless they anchor their answer to the foundation that Jesus himself built with his own two hands from the bricks and mortar of his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, a wide gap will exist between their understanding of God and the nature of God - a chasm. They will have a low fidelity understanding of God. Their understanding of God will be a poor approximation. Only the foundation that Jesus built on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection gives us a high fidelity understanding of God - the best approximation of God in the Valley of Tears.

If you cannot explain the reasons that we attribute the details of courage, tenacity and audacity to our God, then you do not know him. You are worshipping a lesser, false god not the one true God.

What level of understanding of God is needed to produce sweet fruit "hundredfold" (Matthew 13:8) ? What level of understanding of God is needed to produce sweet fruit "sixtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) ? What level of understanding of God is needed to produce sweet fruit "thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) ?

The Autobiography of God

The road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the platform from which Jesus published the Autobiography of God. It is ironic but the Word of God (John 1:1) wasn't an author. He was a carpenter (Mark 6:3) . The Word of God (John 1:1) didn't tell us about God with words. He showed us God. The carpenter (Mark 6:3) built the Autobiography of God into the very fabric of reality on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Have you "read" it?

The Definitive Version of God is the Version that Jesus gave us on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection

As we grew more remote from Eden, many false, inaccurate and conflicting versions of God arose in the minds of the children of Adam and Eve. The multiplicity of versions created confusion. “Who is our God?”, we asked ourselves. Our answers were all over the map. “This is God” some said as they pointed to their favorite version of God. Others pointed to a different version and said, “No, this is God.” The controversy goes on ad infinitum. So God sent his Son to end the confusion. Jesus came to reorient and refocus the world on the version of God that he deposited on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Why? Jesus's version of God is the definitive version of God. It is an upgrade. Jesus's version of God bumped our understanding of God up a level or two.

How do we distill the meaning of the apocalyptic revelation about God that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears as we forced him through the furnace of affliction on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection?

The revelation about God that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears as we forced him through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the Good News of Great Joy. It illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. It reveals God to us. It upgrades our understanding of God from steerage to first class. But, how do we interpret it? What interpretive technique do we apply to distill its meaning? To maximize our understanding of the fullness of the revelation, it is essential that we weave the symbiotic dance of question and answer through his bloody wounds to join the Crucifixion and the Resurrection together into a single unit of apocalypic revelation. The Crucifixion was our question. “Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe? We asked him our sharp questions with lash, thorns, nails and cross. Jesus answered our sharp questions. He did not hang mute. His tongue was not nailed to the Cross. He was not ambiguous. His gentle answer (1 Kings 19:11-13) to our sharp questions is the Good News of Great Joy. The Good News of Great Joy is that he forgave us (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) for the evil that we did to him. By virtue of his gentle answer to the evil that we did to him, we discover that our God is our friend not our foe. He is for us not against us. He is a philanthropist not a misanthrope. The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. If his love for us were counterfeit, it would have faded as we tortured him and would have died when we killed him. But it did not. His love for us survived the evil that we did to him. The intransigence of his love for us despite the brutality of the Crucifixion is one of the guarantees that his love for us is genuine.

the Data Drop

Seeing the sky open between heaven and earth and messengers of God passing to and fro is a rare sight (John 1:51) (Genesis 28:12) . Information does not ordinarily pass across the abyss that seperates heaven and earth (Luke 16: 26) (John 3:10-13) especially the knowledge of God. The knowledge of God hides behind an event horizon (Wikipedia) . To transmit it, it needs to be downloaded. The data needs to be dropped. Jesus was a data drop (John 18:37-38) . The Word of God (John 1:1) was a download of data from the far side of the event horizon to the near side - from God's side to our side. Jesus was a witness from the other side who testified on this side to the truth about God (John 18:37-38) . Furthermore, the data about God was "fresh". It was not pre-recorded. It was created for us live, in real time, as it was being generated by means of a test (Matthew 4:7) (Luke 4:12) (Deuteronomy 6:16) . Divinity, however, cannot be tested (Job 38) ; only humanity can. So, to transmit the truth about God to us, the Son of God did something extraordinary. He became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. Jesus doffed his invincible armor of divinity, donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood and, on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, let us put him to the test. We tortured and killed him. We made him suffer and die. We tested Jesus in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . Jesus paid the exorbitant cost of the test out of his own pockets. However, he did not pay the cost of the test from his unlimited divine resources. He paid the cost of the test from his limited human resources. He paid them all for us. He kept not a penny for himself. He has never paid more for anything else. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) (John 12:24) (Love is the Gold Standard of Christianity) . The test revealed God to us. In the result of the test, Jesus illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. In the test Jesus gave us a glimpse from here on earth into the mind of God (1 Corinthians 2:9) . Are you privy to the revelation? Are you fluent about it? Can you articulate it? Do you have the words?

Jesus delivered the only homily that matters on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection

Beware the knuckleheads of Christianity! They elevate their regulations over God's revelation - their rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole over God's love for us. They dilute God's love for us with their vain words. They water it down. They underestimate God's love for us. They try to reduce it to mere human dimensions. They try to shrink it - make it small. They try to put limits on both its size and its scope. They empty the Cross of Christ of its meaning (1 Corinthians 1:17) . Jesus released the ultimate revelation about God into the Valley of Tears from the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus delivered the only homily that matters. An earnest conversation took place between evil and forgiveness, the odd couple of epiphany, on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Our contribution to the conversation was the evil that we did to Jesus. We tortured and killed him. We made him suffer and die. Jesus supplied the forgiveness. He forgave us for the evil that we did to him. We took from Jesus his flesh and blood (Mark 7:21) even though they did not belong to us. He forgave us (Luke 23:34) even though we did not deserve forgiveness. Ordinarily, evil and forgiveness do not appear together. When they do, we are astonished. The greater the evil, the more astonishing is the forgiveness. Moreover, when the participants in such a rare congregation are us and our God, the astonishment reaches a unique, gobsmacking climax. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It is the exploding bombshell of revelation whose brilliant flash illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany (John 8:12) (Genesis 1:3-5) (John 1:4-9) . The knuckleheads of Christianity, however, are either not privy to the earnest conversation or they do not appreciate its significance. They haven't a clue - an inkling - about the limitless love of God. The knuckleheads tell us what little they know about God by delivering a homily from the safety of an ambo. Jesus, meanwhile, delivered the only homily that matters far from a position of safety. He delivered the only homily that matters on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection in the middle of torture and death. The Son of God became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. Having donned our uniform of flesh and blood, Jesus entered the scrum, shoulder to shoulder with us, at the line of scrimmage in the war against evil. There he sacrificed his flesh and blood - all of his limited human resources - to pay the exorbitant price required to reveal God to us. To know forgiveness is to know love (Luke 6:43-45) . To know love is to know God (1 John 4:8) . To know God is to have eternal life (John 17:3) .

The Good News of Great Joy is the gentle answer that Jesus gave us to the evil that we did to him - evil both brutal and lethal. What was his answer? Are you privy to The Good News of Great Joy?

Who puts the Pieces to the Puzzle of God together?

There are two ways of doing Christianty. A Church can put the pieces of the puzzle together and present the finished puzzle to the children of Adam and Eve. Or, a Church can present the location of the puzzle pieces to them and invite them to put the puzzle pieces together for themselves. Which is the better way to do Christianity? Do we show them where to look or do we tell them what we found? Which is the better methodology? Which is more persuasive? Which works? The best, most powerful persuasion comes from discovering the truth for ourselves - from intimate contact with the truth itself. When the truth is handed to us on a silver platter (Mark 6:28) , we are not persuaded. Representations of the truth - even when the representations come from a reputable source - do not pack the same persuasive punch as intimate contact with the truth itself. When we discover a truth for ourselves, we take ownership of it. "No fathers or mothers think their own children ugly; and this self-deceit is yet stronger with respect to the offspring of the mind." -Miguel de Cervantes, novelist (29 Sep 1547-1616)

The Tour Guide

Christianity is not about indoctrination. Christianity is about exploration. In partnership as equals who can read, write and think for ourselves, we explore the mystery, majesty, and magnificence of God. The Holy Spirit is tugging at our souls and the curious are following the tug back to its source. We are conducting our own investigations. We are doing our own research. We are drawing our own conclusions. Curiosity, not docility, moves us to pursue God. Curiosity is the self-propellant. Are you curious? Will you turn aside to see a great sight, that is, the God who loves us (Exodus 3:1-3) ? Christianity is the new Exodus that is marching through the Valley of Tears, across the Red Sea of death, over the finish line and into the promised land, hand-in-hand, arm-in-arm together as one family to the rhythmic beat of the loving heart of our living God! Either it is all for one and one for all or it is every man for himself. Rejoice and be glad! Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt. The Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) marks the spot of the treasure (Matthew 13:44) . An "X" marks the spot. The Church is the usher who shows us to our seats not the star of the show. Jesus is the star of the show. The Church goes off the rails when it starts to think that it is the star of the show. The Church is the tour guide with more than two thousand years of experience. Surely a Church with more than two milennia of experience knows a thing or two about the sights to see along the way? But do not tell us what you found. Show us where to look. Let us experience the joy of discovery for ourselves!

The Two transformations

Two transformations are needed. Jesus transforms sinners into saints. The Church transforms settlers into pilgrims. These are two different jobs. Our salvation goes off the rails when the Church tries to do God's job. The Holy Spirit is tugging at our souls. But only the curious are following the tug back to its source. Curiosity starts us on the path to paradise from settler to pilgrim, from sinner to saint. We do not transform ourselves from sinners into saints. The Church does not transform us from sinners into saints. Only God does and he does so during the process of seeking him.

Our Church has imprisoned the God who loves us in a deep, dank and dark dungeon of rules, regulations, rituals, red tape and rigmarole. Let us storm the Bastille (Storming of the Bastille) to set our God free! Rules, regulations, rituals, red tape and rigmarole are designed to be revelatory. They are designed to show us an aspect of the God who loves us. Now, however, they have become obfuscatory. They obfuscate rather than reveal. They hide God from us.

We can look up to God or we can look down at our behavior. We cannot do both at the same time. Our necks don’t work like that. So, which do we do first? Which is the priority? Is revelation our first priority? Or is regulation? What do you do? Are you a revelation guy or a regulation guy? How do we divide our time? How do we allocate our resources? In the portfolio of Christianity what is the optimal mix between revelation and regulation?

The tool of the evangelist is revelation not regulation

The tool of the evangelist is revelation not regulation. An evangelist is a witness not a king. An evangelist testifies to the verification of God's love for us that Jesus put into the hands of the children of Adam and Eve as we forced him through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Beware the cleric who claims to be an evangelist yet who only tries to rule us as a king. Run from him. Run fast and run far. Such an evangelist hasn't a clue. He is a member of the pitchforks and torches wing of Christianity who either wants to tar and feather us or burn us at the stake. They gleefully try to kick us out of the gates of the Church. They hate the deviants and the deviancy, the sin and the sinner, the dissent and the dissenters. Instead, get real Christianity from an evangelist who wants to introduce you to our courageous God whose love for the children of Adam and Eve is verified, audacious and tenacious. They want us to meet our loving God not their Church's cold, byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, rituals, red tape and rigmarole. Only personal experience with the God who loves us liberates us from the straightjacket of sin. Evangelization proceeds according to the following sequence: 1) a transfusion of love from Jesus to us, and 2) we transfuse our circumstances with love to dilute their toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Evangelization, done right, creates a bucket brigade of love - from Jesus to us, from us to our neighbors.

Love, not words, is the tool of the evangelist

The clergy try to evangelize through the use of words. God evangelized us through the use of love. Who is right? God or the clergy? Which methodology works? The way of evangelization is through the heart. Jesus exploited the 'Domino Effect" (Wikipedia) . Love begets love. "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19) . Jesus launched a chain reaction of love. From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love. The transfusion of love is invigorating. It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) . Not until the clergy learn that words do not work - that there is no substitute for love - , will the decline of the Church be reversed.

Ecclesia semper reformanda est (Wikipedia) . However, the Church regards criticism as dissent and treats all dissent with contempt. Unfortunately, The Church is not set up to listen to feedback. It is a yapping mouth with deaf ears. It prefers to speak rather than listen. It prefers monologue to dialogue. Witness the one way sign that epitomizes the Catholic homily. It has little interest in the give and take of a conversation about God. "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 1:18). Come now, and listen to me, saith the Church. Monodirectionalism is the hallmark of the Church. Information only flows one way down hill from God to the hierarchy of the Church to its clerics and finally to the children of Adam and Eve in the pews. Its refusal to engage in dialogue, however, comes at a steep cost. The children of Adam and Eve who can read, write and think for themselves desire a partnership in the pursuit of God (Psalm 14:2) - an equality of pursuit. (Psalm 53:2) . They do not desire to be led on a leash like a senseless beast. In the "unequal society" (Vehementer Nos), the shepherds see themselves as the master race. However, we read, write and think for ourselves and we refuse to delegate these sovereign activities to our self-annointed betters. Without listening, the Church cannot correct itself. An errorless Church persists in error. The Church does not know how to welcome or process feedback. It has no formal structures to accept and learn from feedback. None. Especially feedback from the sheep to the shepherds. It has no error correction mechanisms. Deluded by the myth of the "unequal society" (Vehementer Nos) (Matthew 23:12) (Matthew 12:22-28), the Church shares the opinion of Tywin Lannister that "[a] lion doesn’t concern himself with the opinions of a sheep." Feedback, however, is the flint that sharpens the blade. Because the Church is insensitive to feedback, it has become a dull blade. A dull blade does not cut.

Towards a new reformation

How is a Christian built? The edifice of a Christian is built upon the foundation of love that Jesus built from the bricks and mortar of his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Upon the foundation that Jesus built, the edifice of a Christian builds itself. Bypass the foundation - try to take a shortcut - cut corners - and the edifice of a Christian crashes down in ruins. Construction of a Christian proceeds in an inflexible, definitive sequence - from the bottom up not from the top down - from foundation to roof. However, some teachers of Christianity hold the perverse opinion that the edifice of a Christian can be built without first building the foundation. It is a harmful fantasy that only leads to failure. Our Church is in a steep decline because it does not understand, respect and honor the sequence for the construction of a Christian. Too many teachers of Christianity allocate too many of our limited resources to the building of the roof and too few to the building of the foundation. The ratio of resource allocation is out of whack - way out of whack. Our Church has mismanaged its portfolio. It needs to reallocate its limited resources.

The Relocation of Christianity

Christianity has diluted itself. It has watered itself down. It has become a thin, insipid gruel. Christianity suffers from a diaspora that has scattered it from its place of origin into other places of petty, inconsequential doctrines. It has spread itself out thin all over the place. To arrest and reverse the decline of Christianity, Christianity is in dire need of relocation. It needs to return to its origin - to its point and place of beginning. A consolidation is needed. The brain power of its leaders needs to focus on the arduous task of restoring Jesus to his throne. They need to apply their prodigious talents to the reintroduction of the Christian understanding of God into the Valley of Tears. They need to stop filling the conversation with discussions of their religion, their morality or their Church and start filling the conversation with a discussion of their God. They need to make God known again. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge", God said (Hosea 4:6) . God had become a stranger to us (John 10:5) (Psalm 69:8) (Exodus 2:22) . “And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers” (John 10:5) . To prevent our destruction, our Christian leaders need to resurrect the answer to the question, 'Who is God?', from the dead. They need to upgrade our understanding of God. An upgraded understanding of God is the foundation of Christianity. Get the foundation right and everything else falls together. Get the foundation wrong and everything else falls apart.

The leaders of the Church love to sing the song of sin. It is their favorite song. They play it over and over and over again. They sing, dance, and tap their feet to its beat. Its incessant drone, however, has driven the children of Adam and Eve away. Now the song of sin echoes through the naves of empty Churches. The children of Adam and Eve have lost interest. However, they love to hear songs about God. Surely, a more than two thousand year old Church knows a song or two about God? Surely the Church can sing a different tune? The children of Adam and Eve are searching for the singer who is singing the song of God. Jesus was the first to sing the song of God. He inivites us to join in.

Contact with words about the truth is a poor substitute for contact with the truth itself. A representation of reality does not pack the same persuasive punch as the reality itself. Intimate contact with the truth itself, therefore, is the means by which God is rescuing us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears. He wallops us over our heads and about our bodies with both the sweet truth and the sour truth. The sweet truth and the sour truth are the engines that generate the current of salvation. The current of salvation sweeps us off our feet and carries us to our salvation. Few swim against the tide. Rational creatures seek the sweetness of paradise and flee the sourness of godlessness. It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise. It is crazy to do otherwise.

Our obedience is owed to the truth.

Jesus came to testify to the truth (John 18:37-38)

Rationality, not Obedience, steers the ship

Paradise is not a prison; God is not our warden; we are not his prisoners. A cage is still a cage no matter how gilded. The decision to include God in our lives or to exclude God from it belongs to us. God endowed us with the freedom to decide. God is highly confident that we will make the decision to include him in our lives - the decision that advances our self-interest - provided no illusions obscure the truth from us and, thereby, interfere with our perception of reality. Rationality, not obedience, steers the ship. Our faculty of obedience is broken. It has been broken since the age of Adam and Eve. God does not stop executing his rescue plan to fix our broken faculty of obedience. He bypasses it. His appeal is an appeal to our rationality. He appeals to us with the truth. The truth is the fuel of our rationality. When fueled by the the truth, our rationality steers us in the right direction. When the fuel of truth is fouled by a lie, our rationality leads us astray (John 8:44). God has taken steps to make sure that we come into intimate contact with the truth - both the sour truth and the sweet truth. The truth is the sledgehammer that shatters our illusions as the blow of a hammer shatters a pane of glass. God is the artist who paints the Masterpiece of Reality on the Canvas of our Rationality in the Pigments of Truth . “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32) . Adam and Eve decided to exclude God. What is your decision and, if you decided to include God in your life, how do you do so? How do you pursue him (Psalm 53:2) through the Valley of Tears, across the Red Sea of death, and into the promised land?

Jesus was dispatched from heaven to earth to resurrect our understanding of God from the dead (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) (Ephesians 5:14) .

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge", God lamented (Hosea 4:6) . Since Eden, our understanding of God had faded from the face of the Earth (Hosea 4:6) (John 10:5) (Psalm 69:8) (Exodus 2:22) . The answer to the question, 'Who is God?' teetered on the brink of extinction. The answer clung to life only among a small, wandering tribe of desert nomads known as the Jews. God had stashed the answer with them for safekeeping. They were its guardians. God had appointed them as the trustees of our understanding of God in the Valley of Tears. They were the pilot light that kept the flame of understanding burning for God's future use (Isaiah 11:1) (Luke 12:49) (Exodus 3:1-3) .

Exploration versus Indoctrination

Christianity done wrong is about indoctrination. Christianity done right is about exploration. Ground zero of our understanding of God is the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. There we explore the mystery, majesty, and magnificence of God (The Tour Guide) . The unique transaction that unfolded on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection in which Jesus forgave us for the evil that we did to him is the rock on which the wise anchor their understanding of God (Matthew 7:24-27) . It generates a high fidelity understanding of God.

The Assumption

The assumption is that we are born alive. The assumption, however, is false. We are born dead (John 3:3) (Genesis 3:3) . We do not make our escape through the Valley of Tears from life to death but from death to life. We pass through the Valley of Tears not to die but to awaken from the dead (Matthew 16:28) . "For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry" (Luke 15:24) . Intimate contact with the truth itself - both the sour truth and the sweet truth - vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) . The only sadness in the Valley of Tears is over dead men and women who refuse to wake up from the dead. (SS)

The Ascension

Jesus is working to raise us up from the level of a loveless beast to the level of our loving God. Our ascension is his purpose. Love is the flotation device that lifts us up and out of our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears. Love deifies us. But only love begets love. Only love uplifts us. Nothing else.

The Economy of Paradise

Jesus introduced the currency of love into the Valley of Tears and, in so doing, initiated the economy of paradise here on the earth. The economy of paradise is based on the currency of love. With ordinary currency, the more we spend, the poorer we get. It is a paradox, but with the currency of love, the more we spend, the richer we get. GOD WANTS US TO SPEND OUR WAY OUT OF POVERTY. GOD WANTS US TO MAKE OURSELVES RICH (John 4: 13-14) (John 10:10) ! (SS)

The image and likeness of God

We are made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26) . He endowed us with the capacity to love (Luke 17:20-21) . Our hearts are vessels that can be filled to the brim with love. The greater the love that we hold in our hearts, the greater is our resemblance to God. A saint is a child of Adam and Eve who bears an uncanny resemblance to God. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.“ (John 13:35) (Matthew 22:36-40) (1 John 4: 7-12). Deification is the process of increasing our resemblance to God. Only love deifies us. So, Jesus planted the seed of love into the soil of our loveless hearts when he gently forgave us for the not-so-gentle evil that we did to him (Luke 23:34) . While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . Only love begets love. Only love initiates a cycle of love. (SS)

When our crosses push us over the edge, according to Jesus, love is the parachute that controls the fall and cushions the landing.

What is the best "cushion" to put between us and our Crosses?

A rich man thinks that he can exploit his riches to fend off the crosses that besiege us as we pass through the Valley of Tears (Luke 12:13-21) , over the Red Sea of death, across the finish line, and into the Promised Land. His riches can hold his crosses at bay. The poor man, not having the cushion of riches between himself and his crosses, is more aware than the rich man of the direness of our predicament in the Valley of Tears. Riches conjure up the dangerous illusion of safety and of independence from God (Luke 12:16-21) . Riches give the rich man a false sense of security. A poor man with no resources is much more likely to turn to God than a rich man with resources. God is the resource of the poor man. God is all that the poor man has. When he hung from his Cross, Jesus taught us how to hang from our crosses. He clung to love, held tight and refused to let go. The evil that we did to him poked a hole in his most Sacred Heart. Jesus, however, refused to allow a drop of his love for us to flow through the hole in his Heart. His most Sacred Heart stayed filled to the brim with love for us. Therefore, cling as Jesus clung. Hang as Jesus hung - to love. Love is the cushion that we place between us and our crosses (1 John 4:8) . God is love (1 John 4:8) . Put God between you and your crosses. (SS)

Nuclear Fusion

Jesus fabricated a molecule of apocalyptic revelation about God from the fusion of an atom of himself and an atom of our evil in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. A violent collision between Jesus and the evil that we did to him produced nuclear fusion. The violence of the collision was bigger than the Big Bang Big Bang and larger than CERN's Large Hadron Collider LHC . During the process of nuclear fusion, Jesus released the energy of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) into the Valley of Tears. The energy of forgiveness is the strongest force on earth. Paradoxically, it derives its strength from its gentleness (Isaiah 55:8-9) . In a most gentle answer to the evil that we did to him - evil both brutal and lethal, Jesus forgave us (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) . The greater was the evil that we did to Jesus, the more astonishing is the gentleness of his answer to it. The gentleness of the energy of forgiveness gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It gives Jesus his charisma and Christianity its magic. The gentle energy of forgiveness upgraded our understanding of God from steerage to first class. Who would have guessed that our God would be willing to bring about the fusion of himself and our evil given its exorbitant cost to himself (Isaiah 55:8-9) ? He didn't have to; but, he did. Love drove him to do so. Evil was the fuel. Jesus was the power plant. The fuel of evil triggered the power plant of love to generate the energy of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears. Through the bloody wounds that our evil opened in his flesh, Jesus poured the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Preach the fusion of the atom of evil and the atom of Jesus and then get out of the way to let the energy of forgiveness do the rest.

The freight train of Evil and Jesus collided on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection

We launched a freight train of evil toward him. He saw it coming. Remarkably, He stood in its path. He did not flinch. He did not cower. He did not jump out of the way. Good and evil collided. He took evil on the chin. He stood firm and, by standing firm, stopped evil's progress dead in its tracks. The serpent's plan failed. Evil hit a wall. The wall that evil hit was Jesus. The bloody wounds mark the line that the Son of God drew in the sand. At his bloody wounds, evil was stopped short of its objective. Its objective was to extinguish God's love for us. It was not allowed to reach its destination. Jesus allowed it to progress so far and no farther. Jesus did not allow evil to reach his most Sacred Heart. He did not let evil empty his most Sacred Heart of his love for us or let evil drain it of a single drop.

Jesus defied his Instinct for Self-preservation

We are born conservative. We become liberal. Our instinct for self-preservation drives us to conserve and to accumulate limited human resources (Matthew 6:21) . We have no desire to part with them. The payment of our limited human resources is contrary to our instinct. Noteworthy, therefore, was the willingness of Jesus to deny his instinct for self-preservation (Matthew 16:24-26) . To illuminate the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany by means of the light of forgiveness, Jesus did not make payment by drawing on his unlimited divine resources. He made payment by drawing on his limited human resources. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus spent all of his flesh and blood. He kept not a penny for himself. He has never spent more on anything else. The size of his payment is evidence of the size of his love for us. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) (John 12:24) . How great is the love of a Creator who lays down his life for his creatures (Matthew 3:13-17) ? Jesus led by example. He did not give us advice from the safety of the sidelines as a priest lobs a homily at us from the safety of an ambo. Jesus showed us. He put on a demonstration. He joined us in the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the war against evil. There he showed us that it is possible for conservatives to become liberals - the selfish to become selfless (John 12:24) . The possibility was revealed to us via the sacrifice of his flesh and blood. We can become superheroes like Jesus by becoming willing to part with our limited human assets and spend them not on ourselves but on our neighbors.

It is strange. Christians know about the Resurrection. They know about the Resurrection. However, few of them know the revelation about God that these two events transported into the Valley of Tears. Everyone knows the details but few know what the details mean. In the Crucifixion, we did evil to the Son of God. In the Resurrection, Jesus gave us his answer to the evil that we did to him. Are you privy to his answer? His answer is the Good News of Great Joy. The gentleness of his answer is matched oppositely by the sharpness of our question to him.

The purpose of Jesus's visit was to raise our understanding of God from the dead. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. The Crucifixion, however, is only the beginning of the revelation. It is not the end. The end of the revelation arrived when Jesus resurrected our understanding of God from the dead. Our understanding of God is resurrected from the dead when Jesus answers the evil that we did to him. By answering the evil that we did to him, Jesus resurrected our understanding of God from the dead. His answer is the Good News of Great Joy. His answer reveals God to us. We learned that God is our friend not our foe.

We mistakenly think that the Crucifixion and the Resurrection are two separate, independent, and unrelated events. They are not. The Crucifixion and the Resurrection are two parts of a single unit of revelation about the God who loves us (1 Corinthians 1:17) - two sides of the same coin of apocalypse. Both events are needed to fully understand the revelation. Both events work together to illuminate the darkness of our understanding of God. Both cooperate to give us a high fidelity representation - the best approximation - of the reality of God.

DOES YOUR TANK HAVE THE CAPACITY TO HOLD THREE GALLONS OF MEANING?

Jesus transported the knowledge of God (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) from heaven and released it into the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The knowledge of God is the treasure of Christianity (Matthew 13:44) . Jesus deposited the knowledge of God into a "conversation" between humanity and divinity that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Into the depository, Jesus put three gallons of meaning.

One gallon of meaning was deposited into the Crucifixion on the near side of the Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) . On the near side of the Cross of Christ is all of the evil that we did to him - evil both brutal and lethal.

One gallon of meaning was deposited into the Resurrection on the far side of the Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) . On the far side of the Cross of Christ is the answer that Jesus gave us to the evil that we did to him. By his answer, Jesus resurrected our understanding of God from the dead (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) .

One gallon of meaning was deposited into the connection between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The Crucifixion and the Resurrection are not separate, independent, unrelated events The connection between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection is the least understood but most important gallon of meaning of the three gallons of meaning. The connection between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection adds a layer of meaning above and beyond the meaning that each of the two events holds in and of itself. The connection that joins the Crucifixion and the Resurrection together into two parts of a single unit of revelation is the symbiotic dance of question and answer. The symbiotic dance of question and answer weaves its way through his bloody wounds to tie the Crucifixion and the Resurrection together into an apocalyptic conversation - an interrogation to be precise. What were our questions? “Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe? We asked him our sharp questions with lash, thorns, nails and cross. What was his answer? His gentle answer to our sharp questions is the Good News of Great Joy. The Good News of Great Joy is that he forgave us (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) for the evil that we did to him.

The Crucifixion and the Resurrection cooperate together to produce the answer to the question, 'Who is God?'. They illuminate the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.

Many who contemplate the Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) , unfortunately, have only a one gallon tank. A one gallon tank cannot handle three gallons of meaning.  WHAT IS THE CAPACITY OF YOUR TANK?

The treasure of Christianity (Matthew 13:44) is the revelation about the God who loves us that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. To propagate the treasure of Christianity (Matthew 13:44) from its depository then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now, Jesus gave us advanced, alien technology. The Mass is a teleportation device. It warps time and space. It drops us in the middle of the asymmetric exchange between creatures and Creator that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. It immerse us in it. Immersed in this warped time and space, we upgrade our understanding of God. Jesus also established the Church to operate the advanced, alien technology.

The Story of our loving God

Jesus proclaimed the story of our loving God in the physical language of suffering on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Are you privy to the proclamation? Do you understand the revelation about God that the story conveyed?

The lexicon of the language of suffering consists of a limited number of words. Among them are flesh, blood, suffering and forgiveness.

God has a backup plan

God has a backup plan. Our baptism in evil as we pass through the Valley of Tears is the glue that binds us to the gift of paradise. The glue is harsh but effective medicine. The prodigal son is not going back to the pig sty; neither will we. By putting our fingers into the flames we have learned for ourselves that the fire is hot. Once burned; twice shy. Rational creatures seek the sweetness of paradise and flee the sourness of godlessness. It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise. It is crazy to do otherwise.

Suffering is the glue that binds rational creatures to the gift of paradise. Intimate contact with the pig sty stops a prodigal son from returning there. Our baptism in the toxicity of the Valley of Tears is the experience that educates the children of Adam and Eve. It is harsh but effective medicine. We are disobedient not irrational. When the gift of paradise is delivered to us - and its delivery is ineluctable - we will not fumble the ball. We will not let the gift of paradise slip through our fingers. We will not repeat the original sin of Lucifer, the gaggle of angels who follow Lucifer, Eve and Adam all of whom let the gift of paradise slip through their fingers after it had been delivered to them.

The gift of paradise is in the pipeline

God plans to deliver the gift of paradise to us just as he delivered the gift of paradise to Adam and Eve. God will not be less generous with us than he was with them. Adam and Eve were the first beneficiaries of God’s love for us. They were not the last. God’s philanthropy did not end with Adam and Eve; God’s philanthropy began with them.

Spending time with Jesus is not enough

Indeed, we need to spend time with Jesus. However, how, when and where we do so make a difference. While we spend time with him, we need to cogitate on the story of our loving God that Jesus proclaimed in the language of his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. This is the Good News of Great Joy. In the Good News of Great Joy, we strengthen our understanding of God. Furthermore, spending time with Jesus is not a passive endeavor in which we absorb an understanding of God through a mysterious process of holy osmosis. To any encounters with Jesus, we need to bring a functioning brain with us and exercise it. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus "said" all that he wanted to say to the children of Adam and Eve about the God who loves us. Stop waiting for a new private revelation about God. Start cogitating his final and most important parable - a living parable during which Jesus sacrificed his flesh and blood and, in so doing, revealed our loving God to us. The story of our loving God that Jesus proclaimed in the language of his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the new wine (Matthew 9:17) . To receive it, repent and become a new bottle (Matthew 9:17) .

Love in the form of foregiveness is the sweet fruit that fell gratuitously from the tree of love (Luke 6:43-45) into the laps of his enemies who tortured and killed him - who made him suffer and die. They did not know what to make of it. They did not know what it meant. They did not know that their day of reckoning had come. They did not know that they were given the yardstick with which to measure their own conduct and the map to follow through the Valley of Tears (Matthew 18:21-35) (Luke 17:20-21) .

The evil that we did to him pumped the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness from the reservoir of his most Sacred Heart, through his bloody wounds, and into the Valley of Tears (Revelation 21:6-7) .

The vehicle that conveyed Jesus's answer to the question, 'Who is God?' was the lopsided 'conversation' between him and us that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Are you privy to it?

Taking Measurements

"For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you" (Matthew 7:2) . Two measuring sticks exist in Christianity. We can measure a Christian against the model of Christianity's rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Or we can measure a Christian against the model of the Christian understanding of God. Which measuring stick gives us the better measurement?

Many Christians who style themselves as orthodox - especially the most sanctimonious of them - have built a well-defined model of their morality. Yet, the very same self-styled, sanctimonious orthodox Christians have not built a well-defined model of God. It is as if they do not have the brain power to make the distinction. They try to rule us as kings by binding us in the straight jacket of their morality. However, they do not stand as witnesses to the Christian understanding of God. Go figure. A high fidelity understanding of God begets a heart filled to the brim with love, which, in turn, begets morality. When hearts are filled to the brim with love, sweet fruits are produced "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . Morality is the effect of becoming a Christian not its cause. Morality is the crown of glory that the children of Adam and Eve wear after they become Christian.

Christian Unity

The unity that Jesus desired is a unity in our understanding of God. This is the foundation. A high fidelity understanding of God is the foundation on which the edifice of Christianity is built. Get the foundation right and everything else falls together. Get the foundation wrong and everything else falls apart. Rest the edifice of Christianity on a foundation other than a high fidelity understanding of God and Christianity rapidly plummets down the tubes into irrelevancy.

Did God's love for us survive the evil that we did to him? What is the evidence? The evidence that God's love for us survived the evil that we did to him is forgiveness. He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . Forgiveness is the proof (John 20:27) .

Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt. The Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) marks the spot of the treasure (Matthew 13:44) . An "X" marks the spot. At the 'X', Jesus sacrificed his flesh and blood as we pushed him through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection in the same manner as meat is pushed through a grinder. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. We did not recognize him (John 1:10) . The greater was the evil that we did to him, the more astonishing was the gentleness of his answer to the evildoers. He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . Forgiveness is the proof that God's love for us survived the evil that we did to him (John 20:27) . That his love for us survived the evil that we did to him is the good news of great joy - the news doesn't get any better than that! To know forgiveness is to know love (Luke 6:43-45) . To know love is to know God (1 John 4:8) . To know God is to have eternal life (John 17:3) . Forgiveness is the ironclad guarantee that his love for us is genuine. The asymmetry of Jesus's gentle answer to the evil that we did to him gobsmacks us (Isaiah 55:8-9) . Its lopsidedness knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . The gift of forgiveness is the blockbuster that changes the game. We took from him his flesh and blood even though his flesh and blood did not belong to us. He forgave us even though we did not deserve forgiveness. The gift of forgiveness is the agent of our transformation - the catalyst of our conversion.

Forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) is the cataclysmic earthquake at the epicenter of Christianity that reset the world on a new foundation - a foundation of love. It is ground zero of our understanding of God. Forgiveness is the proof that God's love for us survived the evil that we did to him (John 20:27) . We experienced an awesome breakthrough in our understanding of God when Jesus forgave us for the evil that we did to him. Forgiveness was the vehicle that Jesus chose to transport us into the inner workings of the mind of God (Isaiah 55:8-9) (1 Corinthians 2:9) . Jesus upgraded our understanding of God by forgiving us (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . It bumped up our understanding of God from coach to first class.

Christianity is a Love Story not a Rule Book

Christianity is not a rule book. It is a love story - a love story about God's courtship of humanity. In the love story, our God sent us a Love Note. The answer to the question, 'Who is God?', had died in the Valley of Tears as the river of time carried us farther and farther away from the age of Adam and Eve. God had become a stranger to us (John 10:5) (Psalm 69:8) (Exodus 2:22) . “And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers” (John 10:5) . God declared, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6) . To prevent our destruction, our God desired to resurrect the answer to the question, 'Who is God?', from the dead. Our God thought that the best way to resurrect the answer to the question, 'Who is God?', from the dead was to send us a Love Note (John 3:16). Jesus was the tangible expression of God's love for us - its incarnate articulation (1 John 4:8) (Luke 6:45) . Have you read the Love Note? Have you contemplated the implications that arise from the fact that our God sent us a Love Note? What does this tell us about our God? Does anyone understand the God who loves us and, because of an understanding of him, seek him (Psalm 14:2) ? Jesus is our king (Matthew 21:5) . However, he did not come to rule us as a typical king rules us (Matthew 20:25-28) (John 18:37) . Typical kings beget rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Jesus is not the typical king and his kingdom is not the typical kingdom. Jesus broke the mold for kingship. He is the king who loves us. In place of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole, the means by which Jesus governs us is love. Jesus set the foundation of the kingdom of God on the rock of love (John 21:10-17) (Matthew 7:24-27) not on a stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Why did Jesus come to love us and not to rule us as a typical king would rule us? Jesus wants to fill our hearts to the brim with love. Only love begets love. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19) . From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love. The transfusion of love is invigorating. It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) . “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.“ (John 13:35) (Matthew 22:36-40) (1 John 4: 7-12). “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them" (Matthew 5:17). "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10) . Moreover, hearts filled to the brim with love produce the sweet fruits of love "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . There was a method behind his "madness". Compliance with a stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole gets you stopped at the door (Luke 13:22-27) (Matthew 7:21-23) (1 Corinthians 13 ) . Love is the passport into the kingdom of God.

Like the Magi, the wise amongst the children of Adam and Eve search for God (Matthew 2:1-2) (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) . "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him" (Matthew 2:1-2) . Point us in the right direction. However, don't tell us what you found. Just show us where to look. Get out of the way and let God show himself to us. Let us make the discovery for ourselves. Please, don't spoil the surprise.

Jesus was the tip of the spear

Jesus brought the war against evil to the Valley of Tears. He was the tip of the spear poisoned with the intoxicating venom of love. Jesus initiated the process of inundating the Valley of Tears with love (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . However, he did not complete it. Jesus was the first drop (1 John 4:19) . Our job is to turn the drop into a flood. Our job, like Jesus's, is to pour the sweet syrup of love into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Jesus struck the first blow. He did not strike the last. Our job is to deliver the subsequent blows in the war against evil. The army that Jesus recruited, not Jesus, will deliver the coup d'etat to evil.

Who is our rescuer?

Both us and our God want our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears to end. No more commingling. No more mixing of the serpent's crosses and the children of Adam Eve. How it gets done, however, is a matter of contention. We want God to do the job for us; he wants us to do it ourselves. There is a difference of opinions; God's prevails.

P.S. This is a solution to the problem of evil (Wikipedia) .

Jesus led by Example

Jesus led by example. He did not recommend that we resist evil with love from the safety of the sidelines as a priest lobs a homily at us from the safety of an ambo. Unlike the typical priest, Jesus exited the sidelines and entered the fray. He joined us in the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the war against evil armed only with a heart filled to the brim with love. Jesus demonstrated to us that love works by using it himself as he passed through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Jesus donned the jet pack and flew to show us that we, too, can fly. What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was! Jesus blazed a trail through the evil of the Valley of Tears, across the Red Sea of death, over the finish line and into the promised land - the land flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27) . Jesus invites us to follow the trail that he blazed (John 14:6) . Or we can figure out how to make our escape through the Valley of Tears on our own without his help. His way or the hard way. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30) .

Either resist or be crushed

"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 9:23) .

We either resist or we succumb. Our crosses either crush us under their unbearable weight or we pick them up and carry them. The choice is ours. By telling us to pick up and carry our crosses, Jesus is not recommending suffering to us; he is recommending love to us. How often is Jesus's recommendation misinterpreted! Jesus does not ask us to embrace our crosses. He asks us to resist them. He asks us to pick them up and carry them across the finish line. Moreover, Jesus showed us how to do it. He revealed the secret of how to pick up and carry our crosses. Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. Have you figured out yet what he did? Jesus clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. He did this because love is the "grease" for the wheels of our passage through the Valley of Tears, across the Red Sea of death, over the finish line and into the promised land, the land of milk and honey. Love is the flotation device that enables us to cross the Red Sea of death. Love is our passport into the kingdom of God. Love and only love turns us into superman with the strength to pick up and carry our crosses across the finish line. Buckets of blood spilled through the wounds that our evil opened in his body; but, not a drop - not a drop - of his love for us followed his blood through the wounds. Jesus kept his most Sacred Heart filled to the brim with love. Therefore, when you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, hold tight and refuse to let go of love.

Poverty - cold, hunger, thirst, failing to conserve our limited human resources and failing to accumuate them, and similar deprivations - takes us outside our comfort zone. Getting outside our comfort zone awakens processess that have gone dormant for lack of use.

Exiting our comfort Zone

We try to optimize our lives by locking ourselves inside a comfort zone. Our natural instinct of self-preservation instructs us to conserve our limited human resources and to accumulate them. It is a powerful driver of our behavior. With our limited human resources, we build our comfort zone. Our comfort zone, however, may not be as good for us as it appears. In a comfort zone, beneficial physiological and spiritual processes go dormant because they are not needed. To awaken them, we must step outside our comfort zone. Cold showers take us out of our comfort zone (Cold Comfort) (The Superhuman World of Wim Hof: The Iceman) (Wim Hof on Rich Roll) . Christianity is akin to the Wim Hof method because it tries to get us outside our comfort zone (Matthew 10:34-39) . How so? Jesus gives us explicit instructions at odds with our natural instinct of self-preservation. "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matthew 16:24) . "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it" (Matthew 10:39) . Sacrificial love takes us out of our comfort zone. There is a difference between selfish love and sacrificial love. Selfish love picks up the tab for ourselves. Sacrificial love picks up the tab for others. Sacrificial love is a willingness to pay out of our own pockets the costs for the production of benefits to, or the removal of burdens from, our neighbors. (Matthew 22:36-40) (Luke 21:1-4) . Jesus showed us sacrificial love by hanging from the Cross (1 Corinthians 1:17) . He did not pay the cost of revealing God to us from his unlimited divine resources. He paid the cost out of his limited human resources. He paid them all for us. He kept not a penny for himself. He has never paid more for anything else. His life did not belong to us, yet, we took it. We did not deserve forgiveness, yet, he gave it to us (Luke 23:34) . Christianity attempts to push us outside the comfort zone of selfish love and into the uncomfortable zone of sacrificial love. It is the belief of Christianity that a life is only truly lived to its fullest when we get ourselves outside of our comfort zone. By loving us even though we tortured and killed him - by forgiving us even though we did not deserve forgiveness (Luke 23:34) , Jesus planted the seeds of sacrificial love in the soil of our hearts. The seeds of sacrificial love turn into trees of sacrificial love. The trees of sacrificial love bear fruit "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . The uncomfortable zone of sacrificial love is the new Eden. In the gardens of the new Eden, the children of Adam and Eve dwell in happiness. Therefore, do not resist the treatment. Take the cold shower of sacrificial love. Pick up the tab for your neighbors. Do not merely exist swaddled in a comfort zone with a pacifier of complacency in your mouth. Escape from your comfort zone to your natural habitat of sacrificial love. Only sacrificial love makes us thrive. "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10) .

Jesus baited his trap with love. His love for us is the cheese for the mice. The children of Adam and Eve are the mice.

What is Jesus's pitch to recruits?

What is Jesus's pitch to new recruits? His pitch to potential recruits was not uttered in words. His pitch was done not said. And His deeds spoke louder - much louder - than words. From the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) in which he sacrificed his flesh and blood, Jesus uttered his gentle answer (1 Kings 19:11-13) to the evil that we did to him. He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we tortured and killed him. We made him suffer and die. We impaled him on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Then, however, something surprising happened - something completely unexpected. He did not stay dead and he did not stop loving us. He continued to love us nonetheless. The evil we did to him did not extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree (Isaiah 55:8-9). He clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. That he emerged from the dead still alive revealed to us his power. Nobody emerges from the dead. He did. That he emerged from the dead still in love with us, however, revealed to us something more significant about divinity than power. Our conception of divinity as power is incomplete. Divinity is also love - a mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn love (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) (Isaiah 55:8-9) .

The enemy is Transactional Evil - A Cross imposed upon us

The enemy is transactional evil - external crosses whose teeth masticate us into bits and pieces and whose tongues spread vicious anti-god propaganda. Transactional evil is the evil that Jesus faced on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Jesus paid us a visit to show us how to pass through a hostile world. Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from ours. The Son of God did not merely deliver to us pie-in-the-sky, head-in-the-clouds wisdom. He delivered down-to-earth, practical wisdom. We can use it today, not just tomorrow, profitably. It is relevant to this world not just to the next. Resist evil with love is the wisdom that Jesus delivered as he passed through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection.

Defortification was the Son of God's Unorthodox way in which he prepared for war against evil

What did Jesus do to prepare for the war against evil? What would a human general do? Wouldn't a human general equip his army to the teeth with powerful weapons? To do battle with evil here in the Valley of Tears (Revelation 12:7-12) (Luke 10:18) (Isaiah 14:12-16), the Son of God did something that no human general would do - Jesus disarmed. He made himself weak. He enfeebled himself. He humbled himself (Philippians 2:8). He clipped his own wings. He made himself vulnerable. The lion became the lamb. The word became tender flesh (John 1:14). "for my strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9) The Son of God doffed his invincible armor of divinity, donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood and, dressed like us, pitched his tent with us in the Valley of Tears. The Son of God become one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. The defortification of the Son of God, also known as the Incarnation, was a most unusual tactic. Unexpected. Surprising. Unorthodox. Counterintuitive (Isaiah 55:8-9) . Disarmament on the brink of his battle with evil gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . "What the fu@@ is he doing?", we exclaim nonplussed (Isaiah 55:8-9) . We are bewildered. How can an infant born in a manger (Luke 2:1-20) ransom captive Israel (O Come, O Come, Emmanuel)? What can a frail human baby accomplish? What was our God thinking (Isaiah 55:8-9) ? Where is the powerful God who smote the Egyptians? What role can flesh and blood possibly play in our salvation? How can ordinary flesh and blood resist evil?

What weapon did Jesus forge in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) with his flesh and blood to do battle in the war against the evil that besieges us?

A weapon was forged in the Furnace of Affliction by the Sacrifice of his flesh and blood

To wage war againt evil, our almighty God had a vast arsenal of weapons at his disposal. God could have waged war against evil in many different ways. He had a variety of options. Yet, the option that God settled upon was the weapon that Jesus forged by sacrificing his own flesh and blood in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Jesus forged a gentle answer to the evil that we did to him. He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . His gentle answer emerged from the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . God dared us. "Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure!" (Malachi 3:10) (John 7:38) . Jesus released the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . The weapon the Jesus forged as he proceeded through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection tells us all we need to know about our God. His choice of weapon revealed our God to us. His choice of weapon illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. It give us an apocalyptic insight into how the mind of God works (Isaiah 55:8-9) . From our lowly position, we caught a glimpse of our transcendent God in action in the Valley of Tears.

The Armories that hold the most powerful weapon in God's arsenal

Jesus forged the most powerful weapon in God's arsenal by sacrificing his flesh and blood in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. He established armories (Jeremiah 50:25) throughout the Valley of Tears where God's most powerful weapon is stored. The armories are the Mass. We go to Mass to arm ourselves in order to sally forth from our foxholes and, together, to storm the gates of hell (Matthew 16:18) in the war against evil. Jesus invites us to take up the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of God and join him in the war against evil. He wants us to exit the sidelines and enter the fray. He invites us to stand shoulder to shoulder with him - cheek to jowl - in the scrum at the line of scrimmage. He wants us to help him fleshify (depetrify) hearts of stone and turn them into hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) . Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt. The Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) marks the spot of the treasure. An "X" marks the spot.

Jesus did not release the rabid, three headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution through his bloody wounds and into the Valley of Tears in answer to the evil that we did to him. Jesus kept the monster locked up in chains in the dungeon of his heart. Instead, he released into the Valley of Tears the gentle angel of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) .

His Greatest Miracle was our failure to piss him off

Jesus performed many miracles in the Valley of Tears. Which miracle was his greatest and why?

Was his greatest miracle the transformation of water into wine at the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11)? Was it the healing of the sick (Luke 5:17-26)? Was it bringing clay birds to life (Infancy Gospel of Thomas)? Was it the raising of the dead (John 11:1-45)? Was it the feeding of the five thousand (John 6: 1-14)? Was it the walking on water (Matthew 14:22-33)? Was it the transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9)? Was it the Resurrection (John 20: 1-20)?

Jesus's greatest miracle was our failure to piss him off.

The evil that we did to him ought to have, at the very least, pissed him off. It ought to have antagonized him. It ought to have earned us a place on his shit list. It ought to have provoked his natural instinct for justice. It ought to have triggered his reflex for revenge, retaliation and retribution. It ought to have transformed him into our enemy - into a misanthropic monster - into the God who hates us. It ought to have shifted God from the pro-human team to the anti-human team with the serpent and his minions. When the fuse is lit, the bomb ordinarily explodes. But, remarkably, it did not. The fuse worked but the bomb was a dud (Isaiah 55:8-9.) Love made it a dud. The evil we did to him did not extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree (Isaiah 55:8-9). He clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go.

Why?

Why is our failure to piss him off despite the evil that we did to him on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection his greatest miracle?

The difference between this miracle and the other miracles is the source for the payment of the cost for achieving the miracles.

When Jesus transformed water into wine at the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11) or healed the sick (Luke 5:17-26) or brought clay birds to life (Infancy Gospel of Thomas) or raised the dead (John 11:1-45) or fed the five thousand (John 6: 1-14) or walked on water (Matthew 14:22-33) or became transfigured (Matthew 17:1-9) or rose from the dead (John 20: 1-20), Jesus paid the cost for achieving these miracles out of his unlimited divine resources.

When Jesus forgave us for the evil that we did to him on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, he paid the cost for achieving this miracle out of his limited human resources. He paid them all for us (1 Corinthians 7:23) . He kept not a penny for himself. He has never paid more for anything else (John 15:13) (John 10:15-18) .

There is a significant difference when you pay the cost out your abundance and when you pay the cost out of your penury - when you cast in all the living that you have (Luke 21:1-4) .

The angels cannot imitate the greatest miracle that Jesus did because they do not have flesh to spend. All they have is unlimited divine resources. However, we can. We can pay the cost of miracles great and small out or our own pockets from our limited human resources. A heart filled to the brim with love gives us the strength to do miracles. Become a miracle worker like Jesus. Fill your hearts to the brim with love. In this way, we share in the glory of God.

Jesus released his understanding of God into the Valley of Tears as he passed through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. It was the definitive revelation about God because only Jesus has seen and knows the Father (John 6:46) (Matthew 11:27) (John 8:19) (John 3:12-13) so his understanding of God is the best understanding of God. Unfortunately, it was trapped in the boondocks of space and time - in the "backside of the desert" (Exodus 3:1-3) , far away and long ago. Its entrance into the Valley of Tears was anonymous, inconspicuous and remote. It was accompanied by little fanfare. Jesus's understanding of God, therefore, must be picked up from its place of birth in the Valley of Tears and carried from then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve, here and now. Jesus's understanding of God does not propagate itself. It doesn't have its own legs. It is not self-propelled. To "[f]ill the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) requires work. Furthermore, the work is not easy. In fact, it is quite dangerous. Propagation entails loving as Jesus loved us (John 15:12) . Jesus loved us even though we tortured and killed him - even though we made him suffer and die - even though we impaled him on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Despite the evil that we did to him, Jesus continued to love us nonetheless. Now that's love! Try matching that. When Jesus returns, will he find any men and women of courage upon the earth who love as Jesus loved us (Luke 18:8) ?

Why does the dervish whirl?

Why does the "dervish whirl"? What inspires him? Why does a Christian whirl from Mass, to Confession, and to the other holy places that define the escape route of the new exodus from godlessness to paradise? What is a Christian's inspiration? Answer this question and solve the Church's problem. The Church has a big problem. Fewer and fewer Christians are whirling "only 25% of us go to mass". Moreover, the whirling of those who whirl has become perfunctory - cursory. They just go through the motions. They whirl, but, they no longer know why they whirl. What was once inspired has become a meaningless, trite routine. The inspiration that generates the whirl is fading from our understanding. No inspiration; no whirl. The blame belongs to the Church. The Church has let us down. The Church has allowed the nitty-gritty of Christianity to dilute its pizzazz. The Church has put the cart before the horse - the whirl before the inspiration. Too much of the Church's energy, effort and resources has been allocated to the whirl and not nearly enough to the inspiration. The ratio between whirl and inspiration is out of whack. Only by refocusing our attention on the inspiration can we reinvigorate the whirl. What is the pizzazz of Christianity? What is the inspiration that causes us to whirl? The pizzazz and the inspiration are found in the answer to the question, 'Who is God and how do you know it?'. Therefore, please introduce me to your God - not to your Church - not to the rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole of your Church - not to the holy places of your Church that define the escape route on which you seek God and flee godlessness - not to the code of morality that your Church teaches. You can address these aspects of Christianity at another time. First, introduce me to your God. Tell me about him. Give me the details. What is the image that you hold in your head that represents your God? Show me yours and I'll show you mine. Let us compare and contrast the images of God we hold in our heads. Let us have a conversation about them. Let us enter into a dialogue - not the feckless, feedbackless, monodirectional monologues ("the coward's discussion") favored by the Church. "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 1:18). Let us have a bilateral exchange of views. Whose image of God is a fair and accurate representation and whose image is a distortion of reality? Who is God and how do you know it?

Operating System vs. Applications

In computers, the world can be divided into an operating system and its applications. So, too, religion. The flow of love proceeds from Jesus to us and from us into our circumstances. Christianity is a bucket brigade of love. In other words, there are two stages to the flow of love. The first stage is the operating system of Christianity during which the transfusion of love is from Jesus to us. From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love. The transfusion of love is invigorating. It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) . Love depetrifies hearts of stone and transforms them into hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) (Luke 17:20-21) . "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19) . Love persuades us to love. Words do not. Loveless Christians cannot make loving Christians because only love begets love. Christianity is distinguished from other benign pursuits by its first stage. The second stage in the flow of love is the applications stage. In the applications stage, we pour the sweet syrup of love into our circumstances to solve problems in the real world. Love applied to our problems is the solution. Applications, however, do not run properly unless the operating system is installed, maintained and updated. Although many Christians have their favorite applications, few seem interested in the operating system of Christianity. The question in Christianity is always how many resources are devoted to the operating system and how many to the applications? For Christianity to work right, a healthy ratio must be maintained between the operating system and the applications. When we neglect the Christian operating system, it grinds to a screeching halt and, with it, Christianity itself. While Christians are busy attending to their favorite applications, who is tending to the Christian operating system? Who is installing, maintaining and upgrading it? Can 50% of our practice of Christianity be devoted to the Christian operating system? Is 50% too much to ask? The operating system of Christianity is the foundation of Christianity. Get the foundation right and the applications take care of themselves. Get the foundation wrong, and the applications fall apart. (SS)

More teacher; less teachings

Pay homage to the birth of a Christian. A Christian is born by virtue of a close encounter with our courageous God whose love for us is verified, audacious and tenacious. If you haven't met him or cannot articulate him to others, you are not yet a Christian. Discover the characteristics of God that Jesus (John 1:1) revealed to us as he passed through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Learn how to articulate the greatest of God!

courageous: We went after Jesus with lash, thorns, nails and cross. He did not back down. He did not run away. We launched a locomotive of evil barrelling down the tracks at him. He did not flinch. He did not step aside. He did not get out of the way.

verified: Jesus verified the genuineness of his love for us as he passed through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. If the Love Note that God sent us to answer our question, 'Who is God?' were counterfeit, his love for us would have faded as we tortured him and would have died when we killed him. But it did not. Jesus's love for us survived the evil that we did to him. (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) .

audacious: While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . Jesus initiated the process of reconciliation between humanity and divinity. He loved us even though we did not deserve his love. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus threw the holy pearls of love in the form of forgiveness to us while we were still hostile dogs and swine (Matthew 7:6) (Romans 5:8) . Jesus took the first step in the hopes that we would take the second (John 15:12) . Our audacious God did not wait for our conversion to forgive us but forgave us to bring about our conversion (Matthew 22:10) (John 15:13) (John 12:24) (Love is the Gold Standard of Christianity) .

tenacious: We tortured and killed the God who loves us - we made the God who loves us suffer and die - we impaled him on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Yet, Jesus clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. He gently forgave us for the brutal and lethal evil that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . His love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) .

How extraordinary is our God! He is awesome. He gobsmacks us. He knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . Yet, despite these rich truths about God with which Jesus equipped his evangelists to do their job, some still prefer to play the role of king instead of the role of witness. Instead of giving testimony about our courageous God whose love for us is verified, audacious and tenacious, they cast God aside to the dark periphery of Christianity. Instead, they reach their heavy hands into our circumstances to rule us. When this happens, the children of Adam and Eve lose interest. The mission of the Church is not to rule us. The mission of the Church is to get us to rule ourselves. Exposure to our courageous God whose love for us is verified, audacious and tenacious accomplishes the mission. Expose the children of Adam and Eve to our courageous God whose love for us is verified, audacious and tenacious and then get out of the way and let God do the rest. The problem is that the Church does not get out of God's way. It does not keep its totalitarian impulses in check. We do not transform ourselves. The Church does not transform us. Only God does and he only does so through close encounters with him. The Church is the usher who shows us to our seats not the star of the show. Jesus is the star of the show. The Church goes off the rails when it fails to get out of God's way - when it arrogates to itself God's work. Get out of the way and let God go to work.

The Church has mismanaged its Portfolio

The Church has mismanaged its portfolio. It is out of balance. The Church has invested too much into the lesser aspects of Christianity and not enough into the God that Jesus disclosed to us on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The Church has weighted its portfolio too much on Catholic teachings and too little on the Catholic teacher, that is, on the couageous God whose love for us is verified, audacious and tenacious. The Church has allowed the ratio to get out of whack. The Church needs to rebalance its portfolio. It needs to get the ratio under control. Do this and the rest will take care of itself. More revelation; less regulation. More witness; less king. More God; less Church. More religion; less politics. More truth; less opinion. More Mary; less Martha. More pizzazz; less nitty-gritty. Reduce the investment in the Church's cold, byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, rituals, red tape and rigmarole and shift the investment to God's love for us as verified by its tenacity despite our taking from him his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Unless the children of Adam and Eve comes to know their God, the likelihood that they will trust in him is zero. We do not trust in a God we do not know. Therefore, the job of the Church is to make God known in the Valley of Tears. No change in doctrine; just a change in emphasis - a tweak, nothing more. (SS)

I have yet to hear a homily that looked up solely at the characteristics of God that Jesus (John 1:1) showed us as he passed through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Every single homily I have ever heard looks down at our behavior. In every homily is a king who is trying to rule us. Our clerics cannot keep their totalitarian impulses in check. Don't take my word for it. If you don't believe me, listen for yourself. Rate what you hear as up, down, or mixed. Keep a scorecard. In the course of a year, you will hear mostly down homilies, a few mixed and no up homilies. Why? Most of our clerics have not had a close encounter with God as he passed through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection so they do not have the words to articulate the truths about God that Jesus demonstrated there. Not being witnesses to the truth, they cannot articulate it. Theirs is a Christianity without God. What a shame that they do not know their God!

How does the gap between our understanding of God and the reality of God get closed? To close the gap, we need a witness to testify about the reality of God. Jesus is the witness. He came to testify to the truth about God (John 18:37-38) . Jesus gave his testimony about God as he passed through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32) . The testimony of Jesus illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.

"The Church forms consciences by revealing to peoples the God whom they seek and do not yet know ..." (Saint John Paull LL Paragraph 58 REDEMPTORIS MISSIO, Dec 7, 1990)

What belongs in the position of prominence in The Showcase of Christianity?

What belongs in the position of prominence in the showcase of Christianity? What do you put there? What did Jesus put there? Jesus did not put a regulation there. Jesus put a revelation there. Can you articulate the revelation? Do you have the words? Into the position of prominence in the showcase of Christianity, Jesus enshrined the story of an audacious, courageous and tenacious God. Can you articulate the audacity of God? What about his tenacity? Why was he courageous? If you cannot, you do not yet understand Christianity. Beware the knuckleheads of Christianity who try to promote their own petty aspect of Christianity to the position of prominence in the showcase of Christianity. Beware the knuckleheads who hold the opinion that Jesus made a mistake. (SS)

The Church has lost its way

The Church is failing (Matthew 16:17-19) . It is losing market share. Its customers are going elsewhere "Only 25% of us go to mass" "The Closing of Catholic Schools 07/09/2020". The Church has lost control of the narrative of salvation. It has dropped the ball. The story has slipped through its fingers. The Church is no longer the storyteller in chief (Pope Francis Saturday, 21 December 2019) . Fewer and fewer are listening to it. The story now belongs to others. "Brothers and sisters, Christendom no longer exists! Today we are no longer the only ones who create culture, nor are we in the forefront or those most listened to" (Pope Francis Saturday, 21 December 2019) .

How did this sad state of affairs come to be?

God entrusted the Church with a blockbuster to tell the children of Adam and Eve - a paradigm shifting, mind-boggling blockbuster. The blockbuster was about the King who loves us - about our courageous God whose love for us is real, audacious and tenacious. Instead of telling us the blockbuster, the Church decided for itself that its job is to impose upon us a byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole as a straightjacket is imposed on a recalcitrant lunatic. "The Church proposes; she imposes nothing. She respects individuals and cultures, and she honors the sanctuary of conscience" Saint John Paul II said (Paragraph 39 REDEMPTORIS MISSIO, Dec 7, 1990) . This ideal, articulated by a great saint, is not implemented by the Church. The Church tolerates no deviancy from its rigid codex. Its pitchforks and torches mob prosecutes deviancy. For the King who loves us, the Church substituted the Church who rules us. The Church went off on tangents. It left the main road to pursue minor roads. Its audience lost interest.

God is now homeless and Christianity is now godless

Christianity is the home of God in the Valley of Tears. However, we have exiled God from his home (Matthew 21:39) . God is now homeless and Christianity is now godless. We have turned God’s home over to other, lesser aspects of Christianity. Our focus has been hijacked by little things. Minutiae has sidetracked us. We no longer pay any attention to the apocalyptic revelation about our audacious and tenacious God that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears as he passed through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The revelation is the treasure of Christianity. It is a breakthrough in our understanding of God. Yet, our clerics never say anything about it. It is as if they do not know it. (SS)

If the trajectory of evangelization does not pass through a heart filled to the brim with love, Christianity is not being done.

The Church is failing because it is trying to substitute its cold, byzantine and stultifying condex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole for our courageous God whose love for us is real, audacious and tenacious. The pitchforks and torches mob of Christianity is missing the point of Christianity. It has lost the focus.

Christians have dethroned Jesus

Christianity is dying not because of hostile external forces. The secular culture is not killing Christianity. Christianity is dying because Christians are killing Christianity (Pogo) . Christians have dethroned Jesus. We have dragged the audacious and tenacious God that Jesus disclosed to us on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrections from his throne and substituted trivia in his place. The Church with its byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole has staged a successful coup against the king who loves us substituting its tawdry self on his throne in his sublime place. Christians have castrated a proper understanding of the audacity of God and the tenacity of God from the body of Christianity. They have snipped the vitality and virility of Christianity off at the root. Our Church has forgotten the rock (Matthew 7:24-27) to which we can anchor a high fidelity understanding of God. Without the rock, Christianity is adrift.

"Brothers and sisters, Christendom no longer exists! Today we are no longer the only ones who create culture, nor are we in the forefront or those most listened to" (Pope Francis Saturday, 21 December 2019) . Why? Christianity, when done right, confronts us with the reality, the audacity and the tenacity of God's love for us. Christianity is not being done right. Instead of confronting us with the reality, audacity and tenacity of God's love for us, the Church is confronting us with a byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. The Church's codex is a poor substitute for the reality, audacity and tenacity of God's love for us. The codifiers have squeezed the magic of God's love for us out of Christianity. They have downgraded, trivialized, marginalized, peripheralized, sterlized and homogenized the astonishing magic of Christianity. Run from the codifiers. Run from their cold, dead hearts (Ezekiel 36:26) . Run fast and run far. They do not understand the magic of Christianity. They do not believe in miracles. They do not have a childlike sense of wonder (Matthew 18:2-4) . They do not understand that God's love for us is the magic of Christianity.

"The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) (Psalm 53:2) .

The game-changing event in God's love affair with the children of Adam and Eve occurred when Jesus verified God's love for us as he passed through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. If the Love Note were counterfeit, his love for us would have faded as we tortured him and would have died when we killed him. But it did not. Jesus's love for us survived the evil that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) .

The Mass is the vehicle that conveys God's classroom (John 6:45) from where Jesus built it on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now.

God's Classroom - it has wheels!

God lamented, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6) . So God embarked on the mission to "[f]ill the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . The propagation of the knowledge of God saves us from destruction. Wide was the gap between our understanding of God and the nature of God. To fill the gap in our knowledge of God, God could have dispatched a subordinate. He could have sent a flunky. But He did not. The job was so important that God did the job Himself (Matthew 21:33-40) . The Son of God became our teacher. It is written in the prophets: ‘They shall all be taught by God’ (John 6:45) . Furthermore, God did not deliver the complete encyclopedia of the knowledge of God to the children of Adam and Eve. The weight of an encyclopedic data drop would have crushed the children of Adam and Eve. God was precise. God knew exactly the particular aspect of the knowledge of God that the Son of God would teach the children of Adam and Eve. He distilled from the knowledge of God its most salient aspect - the essence of divinity. The essence of divinity that Jesus taught us was this: "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . To bring the knowledge of God to us, Jesus built a classroom in the Valley of Tears. In the classroom, Jesus deposited a lopsided transaction that took place between creatures and Creator on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The transaction is lopsided because, on our side of the transaction, we contributed evil to it - evil both brutal and lethal. On God's side of the transaction, Jesus contributed the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) . In answer to the evil that we did to him, Jesus poured the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) into the Valley of Tears. It dilutes the toxicity of he Valley of Tears in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evil. But, there was a problem with the classroom - a problem of logistics. The classroom in which God himself taught the children of Adam and Eve was located in the boondocks of space and time - in the "backside of the desert" (Exodus 3:1-3) , far away and long ago. It came into existence at a place and time that was anonymous, inconspicuous and remote. How do we preserve God's classroom and propagate it from then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now? God solved the logistical problem in this way. God gave the classroom wheels. He made it mobile. God invented a vehicle as the primary means for the conveyance of his classroom to the children of Adam and Eve. The vehicle is the Mass. Moreover, God established a Church to operate the vehicle. Logistics is the job of God's Church. Education is the job of God's Mass. At Mass, the mathematics of the Last Supper (Luke 22:19) (Luke 22:20) (John 6:31-59) are done again. Out of love for us, Jesus makes an equation. He puts the equal sign between the flesh and blood of sacrifice and the bread and wine of forgiveness. By virtue of the anouncement of the equation of the Last Supper, the paradigm shifted. Still, the rabble and its ringleader take from Jesus his flesh and blood. However, instead of the flesh and blood of sacrifice, Jesus transubstantiates them into the bread and wine of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . By means of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) , his bloody wounds have become the floodgates of forgiveness (Malachi 3:10) through which the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness pours into the Valley of Tears in answer to the evil that we did to him. Without food and drink, we die of hunger and thirst. Without the God who forgave us for the evil that we did to him, death is just as certain (Genesis 3:3) . God dared us. So we did as he dared. "Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure!" (Malachi 3:10) (John 7:38) . The byproduct of the test to which we put Jesus tells us everything we need to know about our God. It fills the gap in our knowledge of God. It upgraded our understanding of God from coach to first class. It illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. (SS)

Astonishment begets curiosity. The greater is our astonishment at Jesus, the greater becomes our curiosity in him. We turn aside, like Moses, to see this great sight (Exodus 3:1-3) .

Don't Tell us what you found; just show us where to look

'Who is God?' We want to figure out the answer to the question for ourselves. We want to do the math. So, point us to the location where we can find the answer. Show us where the answer is kept. Show us the container that holds the answer to the question, 'Who is God?'. Don't tell us what you found. Just show us where to look. Let us delight in the joy of discovering God for ourselves. The best, most powerful persuasion comes from discovering the truth for ourselves - from intimate contact with the truth itself. When the truth is wrapped up in words and handed to us on a silver platter (Mark 6:28) , we are not persuaded. Representations of the truth - even when the representations come from a reputable source - do not pack the same persuasive punch as intimate contact with the truth itself. Intimate contact with the truth itself, not words, is the sledgehammer that gives our rationality a powerful wallop. The sledgehammer of truth shatters the illusions that distort our perception of reality as the blow of a hammer shatters glass. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32) . The truth is the fuel of our rationality. When fueled by the the truth, our rationality steers us in the right direction. When the fuel of truth is fouled by a lie, our rationality leads us astray (John 8:44). God is the artist who paints the Masterpiece of Reality on the Canvas of our Rationality in the Pigments of Truth .

Jesus wanted to make it easy for us to find the treasure of Christianity

Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt. The treasure of Christianity is God's love for us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) . Jesus deposited the treasure of Christianity into a treasure chest (Matthew 13:44) and, like a pirate, buried the treasure on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection pinpointing its exact location with the Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) . An 'X' marks the spot of the treasure. Rally 'round the Cross. Moreover, Jesus also concentrated God's love for us so it would fit into a container the size of a shoebox (Neutron Star) . Jesus wanted to make it easy for us to find the treasure so he pinpointed its exact location to reduce the scope of our search for God and concentrated it to make it manageable. The container is the lopsided transaction between creatures and Creator that unfolded on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The lopsided transaction is apocalyptic. It reveals God to us. It illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. The lopsided transaction is the container that holds Jesus's answer to the question, 'Who is God?. Hence, it is the most important transaction between humanity and divinity since God and Moses spoke at the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-3) in the "backside of the desert" (Exodus 3:1-3) . The audacity of the lopsided transaction gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . Jesus initiated the process of reconciliation between humanity and divinity. He loved us even though we did not deserve his love. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus threw the holy pearls of love in the form of forgiveness to us while we were still hostile dogs and swine (Matthew 7:6) (Romans 5:8) . Jesus took the first step in the hopes that we would take the second (John 15:12) . Our audacious God did not wait for our conversion to forgive us but forgave us to bring about our conversion (Matthew 22:10) (John 15:13) (John 12:24) (Love is the Gold Standard of Christianity) . The greater were our sins, the greater is the audacity of the God who forgave us of them. Furthermore, Jesus matched the audacity of his love for us with tenacity. His tenacious love survived the evil that we did to him (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) . The greater was the evil that we did to him, the more astonishing is the tenacity of his love for us. His love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) . Unworthy is the child of Adam and Eve who has investigated the meaning of the lopsided transaction but is not astonished at the audacity of our God and the tenacity of his love for us (1 Corinthians 11:27-29) .

The bombshell of revelation

Jesus dropped a bombshell of revelation into the Valley of Tears. It exploded on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus and the evil that we did to him met in a violent collision. The violent collision was bigger than the Big Bang Big Bang and larger than CERN's Large Hadron Collider LHC . The incandescence of the explosion illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany (John 1:5) (Psalm 43:3) . The byproduct of the violent collision was forgiveness. Forgiveness was the vehicle that Jesus chose to re-introduce the children of Adam and Eve to God. "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . It is written in the prophets: ‘They shall all be taught by God’ (John 6:45) .

Jesus himself built the foundation for the best approximation of God in the Valley of Tears with his own two hands from the bricks and mortar of his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. We took from Jesus his flesh and blood even though his flesh and blood did not belong to us. He forgave us even though we did not deserve forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . It is written in the prophets: ‘They shall all be taught by God’ (John 6:45) .

The Last Supper

At the Last Supper (Luke 22:19) (Luke 22:20) (John 6:31-59) , Jesus did mathematics - advanced, alien mathematics (Isaiah 55:8-9) . Out of love for us, He made an equation. He put the equal sign between the flesh and blood of sacrifice and the bread and wine of forgiveness. The equation that Jesus announced at the Last Supper is the greatest equation known to humanity. Its power exceeds by magnitudes Einstein's E = mc². Jesus's announcement of the equation at the Last Supper shifted the paradigm. The new paradigm that Jesus announced at the Last Supper was put to the test for the first time in the real world in a lopsided transaction that took place between creatures and Creator on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. It is republished in the Valley of Tears whenever a Mass is said. Jesus transubstantiated the taking of the flesh and blood of sacrifice into the serving of the bread and wine of forgiveness - that which was bad into that which is good - his bloody wounds into the floodgates of forgiveness - a sacrifice into a banquet - murderers into dinner companions - an ignoble defeat into a glorious victory - very bad news into the Good News of Great Joy - a low fidelity understanding of God into an upgraded, high fidelity understanding of God. We took from Jesus his flesh and blood even though his flesh and blood did not belong to us. He forgave us even though we did not deserve forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . It is written in the prophets: ‘They shall all be taught by God’ (John 6:45) .

Only after you have discovered the sweet truth that caused the beautiful flower of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) to sprout in the toxic soil of godlessness will you have discovered God. Until then, keep searching.

God is the shepherd who protects us from the wolves (John 10:11-12) . However, the only wolves that threaten us are the wolves who poke holes in our hearts and drain them dry of love (Matthew 16:25-26) . There is only way for the wolf to win. We, however, can deprive it of victory. We can cling to love, hold tight and refuse to let go. We can, by our own fiat, keep our hearts filled to the brim with love. When we hang as Jesus hung, we can cling as Jesus clung - to love.

The asymmetry of Jesus's gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him is striking. Like a finger, his gentle answer pokes us not-so-gently in the eye.

Our Brutal evil was the Foil in which Jesus set the beautiful Jewel of Forgiveness

The ugliness of our contribution to the lopsided transaction that unfolded on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection was not without a purpose (Matthew 21:33-41) . Jesus made use of the brutal evil that we did to him. He did not let it go to waste. Our brutal evil became his servant (Genesis 50:20) . He harnessed our brutal evil to serve as the dark foil of the comparison that revealed God to us. The ugly foil of the brutal evil that we did to Jesus amplified and highlighted and emphasized and accentuated and magnified the beauty of his sweet forgiveness of us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . The greater was the evil that we did to Jesus, the more astonishing is his audacious gift of forgiveness. While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . Jesus shifted the paradigm. He pulled the rug out from under our feet. The gift of forgiveness gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It is the blockbuster that changes the game. It is the catalyst of our conversion - the agent of our transformation.

The magic of Christianity and the charisma of Jesus are the byproducts of God's love for us. God's love for us is the engine that drives us to our salvation.

Preserving and Propagating The Deposit of Love that Jesus made to upgrade our understanding of God

Jesus deposited his love for us - the treasure of Christianity - into a lopsided transaction that took place between creatures and creator on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The transaction is lopsided because, on our side of the transaction, we did evil to him but, on his side of the transaction, he did not answer the evil that we did to him in kind. He did not give us a taste of our own medicine. He did not require "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48) . Jesus changed the tone of the transaction. He made it asymmetric - lopsided. Instead, he forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . Jesus did not release the rabid, three headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution through his bloody wounds and into the Valley of Tears in answer to the evil that we did to him. Jesus kept the monster locked up in chains in the dungeon of his heart. Instead, he released into the Valley of Tears the gentle angel of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . Furthermore, He established a Church to preserve the deposit of his love for us and to propagate it from its depository then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. The lopsided transaction that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection bumped up our understanding of God from coach to first class - from a low fidelity understanding of God to a high fidelity understanding of God - from a poor approximation of God to the best approximation of God that exists in the Valley of Tears.

The Love Note and its Guarantee

To answer our question, 'Who are you, God?', God sent us a Love Note. God did not keep his love for us to himself. He did not bottle it up. He did not lock it away in the dungeon of his heart. He was not reticent about it. He expressed his love to us. How? GOD EXPRESSED HIS LOVE FOR US BY SENDING US A LOVE NOTE. JESUS IS THE EXPRESSION OF GOD'S LOVE FOR US. What genre of literature is the Word of God (John 1:1) ? The Word of God is a LOVE NOTE - a LOVE NOTE from God to us.

Moreover, God did not stop there. He did not want us to entertain any doubts whatsoever about its authenticity. In addition to the Love Note, God also sent us a guarantee of the Love Note's genuineness. If the Love Note were counterfeit, his love for us would have faded as we tortured him and would have died when we killed him. But it did not. His love for us survived the evil that we did to him. The dial that controls his love for us is in his hand not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. The intransigence of his love for us despite the brutality of the Crucifixion is the guarantee of the Love Note's genuineness.

God composed a LOVE NOTE to us in the Incarnation, delivered it to us in the form of a baby at Bethlehem, verified its genuineness in the violent collision between Jesus, our Savior, and the evil we did to him on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, and celebrates its triumph over the serpent who waged war against it whenever a priest says a Mass.

THE LOVE NOTE IS THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY. The edifice of Christianity is built upon the LOVE NOTE.

Have you read the LOVE NOTE?

Through thick and thin, treasure the Love Note and its Guarantee in your heart. Delight in it. Meditate on the two gifts from God day and night (Psalm 1:2) (Romans 13:8-10) .

Where did Jesus bury the treasure of Christianity in the Valley of Tears?

Where did Jesus bury the treasure of Christianity in the Valley of Tears (Matthew 13:44) ?

He left the children of Adam and Eve a few clues.

He pinpointed the precise location of the treasure of Christianity (Matthew 13:44) with a conspicuous landmark, the Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) . Rally 'round the Cross! He did not plant the Cross of Christ where he gave the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is instructive but it is not the treasure of Christianity. He did not plant the Cross of Christ where he told us parables or where he performed miracles. Neither His parables nor His miracles are the treasure of Christianity. Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt. The Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) marks the spot of the treasure. An "X" marks the spot.

Where did he spend his flesh and blood here in the Valley of Tears? Where did he make his greatest investment? He made his greatest investment in a "conversation" between humanity and divinity that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Into the "conversation", Jesus deposited the definitive answer to the question. "Who is God?". On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection in a "conversation" between humanity and divinity, Jesus spent his flesh and blood. He did not make the exorbitant payment from his unlimited divine resources. He made the exorbitant payment from his limited human resources. He paid them all for us. He kept not a penny for himself. He has never paid more for anything else. The only place in the Valley of Tears where Jesus made the exorbitant payment is on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus buried the treasure of Christianity (Matthew 13:44)

Do not these clues tell us where Jesus buried the treasure of Christianity in the Valley of Tears (Matthew 13:44) ? Do you have a better candidate for where Jesus buried the treasure of Christianity (Matthew 13:44) ? If so, present the evidence. Show us your clues. Turn over your cards.

The Initial Transfusion of Love from Jesus to us inspires the Subsequent Transfusions of love from us into our Circumstances

Love persuades us to love. Words do not. Loveless Christians cannot make loving Christians because only love begets love. This was the reason that Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19) . From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love. The transfusion of love is invigorating. It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) . Love depetrifies hearts of stone and transforms them into hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) (Luke 17:20-21) . Only after we have received the transfusion of love from Jesus, do we go into the Valley of Tears to apply love to our circumstances. First the transfusion; then the applications. Where does the initial transfusion take place? The initial transfusion takes place when we join Jesus in the lopsided transaction between creatures and Creator on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. There, Jesus inflates our deflated hearts with love. Immerse yourself in it. Come to grips with the astonishing truth about God that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection: our God is head over heels in love with us. Let it sink in. Let it infuse the very fabric of your reality. It is transformational.

The moment of Transubstantiation

His flesh and blood became our food and drink when he forgave us for taking them from him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 5: 38-48) (Matthew 18:21-35) . Without food and drink, we die of hunger and thirst. Without the God who forgave us for the evil that we did to him, death is just as certain (Genesis 3:3) .

The substitution of a byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole for love creates an ersatz Christianity. Love gives Jesus his charisma and Christianity its magic. Without love, Christianity is reduced to a hollow caricature of the real thing.

Why we are troubled by the problem of evil

We are troubled by the problem of evil because our conception of rescue is different than God's conception of rescue (Isaiah 55:8-9) . We want God to eliminate the crosses that nail themselves to us as we pass through the Valley of Tears - to circumvent our baptism in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . We want God to transform the Valley of Tears into a kinder, gentler and more hospitable place for godless people to live. God, however, wants to transform godless people into People of God. We want God to rescue us. God, however, wants us to rescue ourselves. God uses the adversity of the Valley of Tears to accomplish his purpose for us. By dispatching his Son from heaven to earth, God initiated the rescue process. However, he did not complete it. Our job is to complete it. The challenge of our crosses forces us to discover that the best way to proceed through the adversity of the Valley of Tears is with hearts filled to the brim with love. Through the wounds that our evil opened in Jesus's flesh, the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness pours lavishly into the Valley of Tears to blaze a trail of love for us to follow. Jesus showed us that the best practice to follow in dealing with our crosses is to love our way through them. The ship of godlessness is sinking. God does not want to save the ship. God wants to save the passengers. God wants godless people to transform themselves into people of God. The means by which this gets done is love.

P.S. God has a backup plan. Our experience of evil is the glue that binds us to the gift of paradise. The prodigal son is not going back to the pig sty; neither will we. By putting our fingers into the flames we have learned for ourselves that the fire is hot. Once burned; twice shy.

Our job is to complete the process of rescue that Jesus initiated

The process of rescuing us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears has begun. Jesus initiated the process. The process began when Jesus gratuitously, unilaterally, uncondtionally and audaciously transusbstantiated the bloody wounds that our evil opened in his flesh into the floodgates of forgiveness (Malachi 3:10) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . Through the floodgates, the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness is pouring into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evil. From heaven, Jesus descended to initiate the process of diluting the toxicity of the Valley of Tears with love (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . However, he did not complete the process. Jesus was the first drop (1 John 4:19) . Our job is to turn the drop into a flood. In the Christian community, there is a difference in opinions about who is supposed to complete the process of rescue. We want God to do it. God wants us to do it. His conception of rescue, however, is different than our conception of rescue. He wants us to follow the example of Jesus and to pour the sweet syrup of love into our circumstances. When we pour the sweet syrup of love into our circumstances, we beome trees of love in the garden of the new Eden. In the conflict of opinions, His opinion prevails. So, let's roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Reunion with God here and now in the Valley of Tears

In the hostile and loveless Valley of Tears, God established outposts of heaven where we can reunite with him. God seeded the Valley of Tears with naturally occuring communities of love. God rigged them to facilitate and promote promote the birth, growth and flourishing of love among their members. When a child of Adam and Eve discovers that he or she belongs to a commmunity of love, reunion with God here on earth is achieved. Examples of a community of love is the relationship of mother and child, family, friendship, marriage, team and tribe. Jesus descended from heaven to establish the greatest community of love in the Valley of Tears. Church, in its ideal form, is the greatest community of love. The enemies of humanity reveal themselves by trying to tear down our communities of love. The friends of humanity reveal themselves by trying to build up communities of love.

Real Wealth

Wealth is not a pocket full of coin nor a head stuffed to the gills with a stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole but a heart filled to the brim with love. Jesus came to make us rich (John 4: 13-14) (John 10:10) . He came to fill our hearts to the brim with love. Love depetrifies hearts of stone and transforms them into hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) (Luke 17:20-21) .

Algorithmic Christianity

The rules of morality write themselves when our hearts are filled to the brim with love. Yet, too many sanctimonious, self-styled, ultraorthodox Christians mistakenly think that it is possible to bypass the engine of love that generates the results and to take a secret shortcut directly to the results themselves. They think they can detour around the cause and go directly to the effect. They devote all of their resources to eating the dinner and none to cooking it. They think that they can substitute an artificial, prosthetic heart filled with algorithims of morality for a real heart of flesh and blood (Ezekiel 36:26) filled to the brim with love. Algorithmic Christians think they can use some unexplained magical lithography to engrave cold algorithims on hearts of stone (Ezekiel 36:26) . Sorry, morality doesn't work this way. Hearts of stone are impervious to the supernatural lithography of algorithmic Christianity. God set the foundation of Christianity on the rock of love not on a stultifying set of algorithms. He did so for a reason. Get the foundation right and everything else takes care of itself. Get the foundation wrong and everything else falls apart. The field needs to be plowed, the soil needs to be cultivated, the seed needs to be sown before the harvest is reaped. God wants Christianity to focus on the engine that generates the results not on the results themselves. When the focus of Christianity shifts from the engine to the results, the engine craps out and the results disappear. Immorality is rampant because Christianity has been hijacked by algorithmic Christians. Which is the proper methodology? The methodology of God or the methodology of algorithmic Christians? The algorithmic Christians are accusing God of making a mistake. But God does not make mistakes. Only love begets love. The job of a Chrisitan is to love as Jesus loved. Jesus loved us even though we tortured and killed him - even though we made him suffer and die. Hence, the job of the Christian is not easy. Cristians, however, are not made by imposing a set of algorithims on them. The sanctimonious, self-styled, ultraorthodox Christians who are promoting an algorithmic Christianity have missed the point of Christianity. Love is the point of Christianity. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another“ (John 13:35) (Matthew 22:36-40) (1 John 4: 7-12). Jesus started the process of making Christians by loving the children of Adam and Eve. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19) . Jesus, however, did not complete the process. Our job is to continue and to complete the process. What Jesus initiated, it is our job to continue and complete.

Christianity has divorced Jesus's victory and his victory party so, now, neither of them is understood. What was the victory that Jesus won on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection? What is the victory party? If you are not celebrating Jesus's victory at his official victory party, you are not doing Christianity. What, exactly, is it that you are doing?

The war is over. Jesus won

Evil was driven out of heaven and precipitously cast down into the Garden of Eden (Revelation 12:7-12) (Luke 10:18) (Isaiah 14:12-16). Evil was evicted but not defeated. The war against evil was incomplete - unfinished. Only the venue had changed from up there to down here. Jesus engaged evil in an epic, apocalyptic battle in the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. What, exactly, was the evil that Jesus was fighting? If Jesus was fighting evil's assault on his flesh and blood, he suffered an ignoble defeat. He was an utter failure. However, if Jesus was fighting evil's assault on his love for us, Jesus won a glorious victory. He was a complete success. Using us as his proxies, the serpent tried to poke a hole in Jesus's heart to drain it dry of his love for us. The assault failed. Despite the evil that we did to Jesus, he clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. He kept his most Sacred Heart filled to the brim with love for us. He continued to love us nonetheless. The war is over. Jesus won. Now, it is our turn to wage our own wars against the evil over which Jesus won his great victory. Jesus defanged the serpent. He drained the serpent's lies of their power to deceive. In so doing, he showed us - he didn't just tell us - how to defang the serpent as well.

Courage

The mission Jesus gave us is to love as Jesus loved us (John 15:12) . It is not easy for us to love as Jesus loved us. In fact, it is quite dangerous. Jesus loved us even though we tortured and killed him - even though we made him suffer and die - even though we impaled him on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Despite the evil that we did to him, Jesus continued to love us nonetheless. Now that's love! Try matching that. When Jesus returns, will he find any men and women of courage upon the earth who love as Jesus loved us (Luke 18:8) ?

“ Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:36-40) .

The Jelly of Christianity

Evangelists are in the business of selling jelly doughnuts. The best way to sabotage sales of jelly doughnuts is to leave the jelly out. A jelly doughnut is not a jelly doughnut without the jelly. It is something else - a croissant perhaps? What is the jelly of Christianity? The jelly of Christianity is the marriage of evil and forgiveness, the odd couple of epiphany, that was consummated in a violent collision on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The marriage revealed God to us. (SS)

What belongs in the Driver's Seat of Christianity?

In Christianity, some fiddle with the radio. Others fiddle with the air conditioning in the cabin; Still others fiddle with the mirrors. But what drives the car? Behind the wheel in the driver's seat is the Victory that Jesus won on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. His Victory drives the car. Christianity goes off the road and crashes when no one is driving the car.

On what foundation is the edifice of Christianity built?

A high fidelity understanding of God is the foundation of Christianity. Upon it, the edifice of Christianity is built. It belongs in the position of prominence in the showcase of Christianity. We must shift our resources into making the Christian understanding of God known in the Valley of Tears. Jesus initiated the process when he released the best approximation of God into the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. However, he did not complete it. Our job is to complete it. Our job is logistics. We must propagate it from its depository then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. Our job is to "[f]ill the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . When we follow red herrings down tangents, we fail to do our job. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge", God lamented (Hosea 4:6) . Propagating the knowledge of God prevents the destruction. (SS)

Love is Monkey Wrench that Jesus threw into the Cycle of Evil to disrupt it and bring it to a screeching halt

Here is how life works. Evil begets evil. Love begets love. These are the two major cycles of life. Jesus threw the monkey wrench of love into the cycle of evil to break it. Love brings the cycle of evil to a screeching halt. Love is toxic to evil. The seeds of evil do not grow in the soil of love. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus showed us that Love, in the form of forgiveness, smothers evil as water smothers fire. His job, and our job too, was to pour the sweet syrup of love into the crosses of the Valley of Tears to dilute their toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee.

The firewall that contains the spread of evil is made out of bricks of love.

Evil is the fire. Love is the water that the firefighters pour onto the fire to extinguish the blaze.

Tenacity and Audacity

His tenacious love survived the evil that we did to him (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) . The greater was the evil that we did to him, the more astonishing is the tenacity of his love for us. The tenacity of his love for us gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . His love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) . The tenacity of his love for us is matched by the audacity of his love for us. While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . Now that is an audacious God! Come and see (John 1:46) . Jesus initiated the process of reconciliation by loving us even though his hostile creatures did not deserve his love. Jesus took the first step in the hopes that we would take the second (John 15:12) . Our audacious God did not wait for our conversion to forgive us but forgave us to bring about our conversion (Matthew 22:10) (John 15:13) (John 12:24) (Love is the Gold Standard of Christianity) . The evil of the children of Adam and Eve had dug a pit in their relationship with God. Forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) is the bridge (John 14:6) that Jesus built to span the pit (Luke 16:26) that we had dug in our relationship with our God. The pit that our evil did to him was dug deep. Paradise is found not at the bottom of the pit but at the far side of the bridge. Our job is to stop digging the pit and to start crossing the bridge. Repentance is the vehicle that transports us out of the pit and across the bridge.

The goal is blessing without measure

God dared us. Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure!" (Malachi 3:10) . We put our God to the test. The test was administered on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. God even erected a conspicuous landmark to pinpoint the precise location of the test for us. The conspicuous landmark was the Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) . Rally 'round the Cross! It was a cruel test. It involved the application of evil to innocence - evil both brutal and lethal, innocence most pure. The hypothesis being tested was that the evil we applied to Jesus would extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for the children of Adam and Eve in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by significant degrees. The hypothesis, however, proved false. The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. Indeed, during the test, the evil that we did to Jesus opened bloody wounds in his flesh. Indeed, on a cataract of blood, the very life of Jesus rushed through his bloody wounds and out of his body. However, during the test, Jesus performed a miracle. The miracle transformed his bloody wounds from the portals of his death to the portals of our life. Jesus transubstantiated his bloody wounds into the floodgates of forgiveness. Through the floodgates, the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness started pouring prodigally into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evil. The transubstantiation of his bloody wounds was gratuitous, unilateral, unconditional and audacious. We did not deserve it. Yet, he did the transformation despite our unworthiness. Blessing without measure is now pouring down upon us. Immerse yourself in the inundation. Discover its source. Understand its origin. Grasp its significance.

Sin is the failure to pursue blessing without measure (Malachi 3:10) . It is exiting the main track to pursue red herrings of no consequence down sidetracks to dead ends. "Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness" (Isaiah 55:2) .

Jesus is not interested in getting us into heaven. Jesus is only interested in getting heaven into us (Luke 17:20-21) (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) . When we love as Jesus loves us (John 15:12) , we have arrived at the penthouse of the kingdom of God even while we are experiencing adversity here in the Valley of Tears. When heaven gets into us, we have ascended from the level of the most miserable and hideous of loveless beast to the level of our loving God. Our salvation has arrived (John 11:25-26) . Welcome to paradise!

Love is the unlimited divine resource that God hopes that we come to possess.

Do you include God in your life or do you exclude him? This is the only measure of success in life.

We find God by diving into and swimming in the reservoir of love that is his most Sacred Heart.

What is the Greatest Prayer?

The greatest prayer is love.

Are you praying?

(Greatest Prayer)

The more we till the soil, the fewer weeds we need to pick. More tilling; less weedpicking. The Church has too many weedpickers and not enough tillers.

Controlling the weeds

Sins are the weeds that grow in the crack between our understanding of God and the nature of God. To control the weeds, our resources need to be devoted to moving our understanding of God into a one-to-one correspondence with the nature of God. No crack; no weeds. When our understanding of God corresponds to the nature of God, our hearts get filled to the brim with love because love begets love. By inflated our deflated hearts with love, there is no room for sin to grow.

The Mission is Muddled

While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . God knew that only love begets love. Only love begets a cycle of love. So God initiated the mission of trying to inflate our deflated hearts with love (Ezekiel 36:26) . However, he did not complete the mission. He established a Church to complete it. He established his Church to pick up the love that Jesus deposited in the lopsided transaction that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection and propagate it from then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. Jesus was the first drop (1 John 4:19) . The Church's job is to turn the drop into a flood. Jesus wants his Church to love the children of Adam and Eve as he loved us (John 15:12) . This is a most dangerous job. It is not easy to love us as Jesus loved us. Jesus loved us even though we tortured and killed him - even though we made him suffer and die - even though we impaled him on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Despite the evil that we did to him, Jesus continued to love us nonetheless. The Church, however, has muddled its mission. Instead of trying to inflate our deflated hearts with love (Ezekiel 36:26) by loving us as Jesus loved us (John 15:12) , the Church is trying to drag the children of Adam and Eve back into the kingdom of God by dint of its self-styled omnipotence against our wills while we kick our feet in resistance like recalcitrant children. It tries to impose upon the children of Adam and Eve a byzantine, stultifying and loveless codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Deviations from the codex are not tolerated. No one escapes the Church's straight jacket. Moreover, the Church devised various psychological weapons - lethal and non-lethal - to terrorize the children of Adam and Eve into submission - to keep us in line. The religious authorities beat us over the head with the billy club of sin until our souls are black, blue, battered, bruised and bleeding. They beat the crap out of our souls. They resort to this psychological violence in a misguided effort to protect their franchise. Jesus trusted in the audacity of his love for us to rescue us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears. Jesus took the first step in the hopes that we would take the second. He initiated the process of reconciliation. Our audacious God did not wait for our conversion to forgive us but forgave us to bring about our conversion (Matthew 22:10) (John 15:13) (John 12:24) (Love is the Gold Standard of Christianity) . But the loveless substitutionists have no confidence in the audacity of love. They put their confidence in the imposition of a loveless codex. The Church's confidence in a loveless codex, however, is misplaced. When the Church is focused on the goal of inflating our deflated hearts with love (Ezekiel 36:26) (John 15:12) , holiness takes care of itself. There is no space in a heart filled with love for sin. Furthermore, the Church's misplaced confidence in a loveless codex causes the children of Adam and Eve to flee. We flee from a heavy-handed, procrustean, monarchical, absolutist and loveless Church (Matthew 23:4) . Lovelessness drives us away. We do seek refuge, however, within the gates of a Church that loves us as Jesus loved us (John 15:12) (Ezekiel 36:26) . Loving us as Jesus loved us takes us to paradise. Love and love alone carries us through the evils of the Valley of Tears, over the Red Sea of death, across the finish line and into the promised land - the land flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27) . The children of Adam and Eve suffer because the Church has muddled its mission.

God’s best argument to persuade us about the sweetness of paradise is the test that Jesus took on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection

Reversing the Catastrophe

God is trying to reverse the fall of Adam and Eve - to undo the great catastrophe. He is trying to turn the Valley of Tears into the Garden of Eden. "... thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven ...". He wants each of us to become a tree in the new garden that bears sweet fruit "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . He wants each of us to fill our circumstances with the sweet fruits of love. God sent Jesus to start the process of reclaiming the world. From heaven, Jesus descended to initiate the process of diluting the toxicity of the Valley of Tears with the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness (Malachi 3:10) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . However, he did not complete the process. Jesus was the first drop (1 John 4:19) . Our job is to turn the drop into a flood. “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5) .

God Choreographed the lopsided transaction that revealed himself to us

God himself choreographed the lopsided transaction that delivered to the children of Adam and Eve the most apocalyptic insight into the inner workings of the mind of God (Isaiah 55:8-9) . He picked the vehicle of revelation. It was not a random event. It was staged - real but staged. The stage on which the lopsided transaction was set was the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Furthermore, God marked the location of the stage with a conspicuous landmark. The conspicuous landmark was the Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) . Rally 'round the Cross! God erected the landmark to emphasize the significance of the lopsided transaction. He did not want anybody to miss it. Moreover, the cost to produce the lopsided transaction was not nominal. It was exorbitant. However, God did not ask us to dip into our own pockets to pay for the cost of the production of the lopsided transaction (1 Corinthians 6:20) (1 Corinthians 7:23) . He did not pass the hat among us to defray the expense. Jesus paid the exorbitant cost of the production entirely out of his own pockets. Furthermore, he did not pay the exorbitant cost from his unlimited divine resources. He paid it entirely from his limited human resources. He paid all of his flesh and blood. He kept not a penny for himself. He has never paid more for anything else. The lopsided transaction revealed God to us in a variety of ways. The gentle answer that God gave us to the brutal evil that we did to Jesus informs us about God. So does the size of the payment. Are you privy to the lopsided transaction? Have you used it to upgrade your understanding of God?

What is our Superpower?

God blessed each of us with a superpower (Superman) . Our superpower is that We can fill the space we occupy with love (Love is the Gold Standard of Christianity) . This is the "Little Way" of St. Therese of Lisieux. Each of us is endowed with the power to dilute the toxicity of our circumstances in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. We can pour the sweet syrup of love into our circumstances. We can irrigate our circumstances with love. Tell the children about their superpower. Remind the adults.

What do we say to a person being chewed up into bits and pieces by the sharp teeth of a cross?

What do we say to a person who is being chewed up into bits and pieces by the sharp teeth of a cross? What comfort can we give them? How do we help them if we cannot extricate them from their crosses or their crosses from them?

Here is the conversation.

In addition to its mumbo-jumbo, Christianity is a religion that applies the wisdom it has received from Jesus Christ to solve real problems. The Son of God did not merely deliver to us pie-in-the-sky, head-in-the-clouds wisdom. He delivered down-to-earth, practical wisdom. We can use it today, not just tomorrow, profitably. It is relevant to this world not just to the next. One of the items of practical wisdom that Jesus delivered to us was the secret of how to deal with our crosses. Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from ours. Despite the evil that we did to him, Jesus clung to his love for us, held tight, and refused to let go. Therefore, when you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung - to love. Love is the 'grease' that lubricates the wheels of our passage through the evils of the Valley of Tears, across the Red Sea of death, over the finish line and into the promised land - the land flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27) .

God is a Philanthropist not a Sadist

God plans to deliver the gift of paradise to us just as he delivered the gift of paradise to Adam and Eve. God will not be less generous with us than he was with them. Adam and Eve were the first beneficiaries of God’s love for us. They were not the last. God’s philanthropy did not end with Adam and Eve; God’s philanthropy began with them. Delivery of the gift of paradise is delayed not denied. This is good news of great joy - very good news for us indeed. During the delay, we get an education in the school of hard knocks. We are baptized in the Valley of Tears. We learn for ourselves that a life lived without God in the Valley of Tears is a miserable life. Our suffering is the glue that binds us to the gift of paradise. Unlike Lucifer, the gaggle of angels who follow Lucifer, Eve and Adam, when the gift of paradise is delivered to us - and its delivery is ineluctable - we will keep it. We shall not fumble the ball. The prodigal Son will not go back to the pig sty. Neither will we. We know better than to let go. Having put our fingers into the flames we have discovered for ourselves that the fire is hot.

The evil that Jesus fought

The Church justifies its ban of women from its priesthood on the ground that Jesus picked only men to be his apostles. For the same reason, therefore, the Church must wage war against the one, particular evil that Jesus picked on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Jesus did not wage war against all evils on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. He waged war against one, particular evil. Jesus did not resist evil's assault on his flesh and blood. He waged war against evil's assault on his love for us. This is the evil that Jesus resisted on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The evil that Jesus resisted tells us what is important and the evil that he did not resist, what is not important. Resist the evil that Jesus resisted.

If you are not fighting the evil that Jesus fought, you are not doing Christianity

Evil was driven out of heaven and precipitously cast down into the Garden of Eden (Revelation 12:7-12) (Luke 10:18) (Isaiah 14:12-16). Evil was evicted but not defeated. The war against evil was incomplete - unfinished. Only the venue had changed from up there to down here. Jesus engaged evil in an epic, apocalyptic battle in the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. What, exactly, was the evil that Jesus was fighting? If Jesus was fighting evil's assault on his flesh and blood, he suffered an ignoble defeat. He was an utter failure. However, if Jesus was fighting evil's assault on his love for us, Jesus won a glorious victory. He was a complete success. Using us as his proxies, the serpent tried to poke a hole in Jesus's heart to drain it dry of his love for us. The assault failed. Despite the evil that we did to Jesus, he clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. He kept his most Sacred Heart filled to the brim with love for us. He continued to love us nonetheless. The war is over. Jesus won. His victory gave us an apocalyptic insight into how the mind of God works (Isaiah 55:8-9) . We caught a glimpse of our transcendent God from here in the Valley of Tears. The only thing left for us to do is to celebrate his victory and give thanks that his love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) . The Mass is the official victory party at which our celebration and thanksgiving take place. Don't be tilting at windmills on the wrong battlefield fighting the wrong war against the wrong enemy. Fight the enemy that Jesus fought on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. If you are not fighting the evil that Jesus fought, you are not doing Christianity.

Fighting the evil that Jesus fought

Christianity is a religion that applies the wisdom it received from Jesus Christ to solve real problems. Christianity does not play games. Therefore, it is important for the Christian to distinguish the real, consequential problems from the trivial. To make the distinction, Christianity looks to Jesus. What was the evil that Jesus was fighting? If Jesus was fighting evil's assault on his flesh and blood, he suffered an ignoble defeat. He was an utter failure. However, if Jesus was fighting evil's assault on his love for us, Jesus won a glorious victory. He was a complete success. So, fear not the sharp teeth of evil that chew our flesh and blood into bits and pieces (Matthew 10:28) as we make our escape through the Valley of Tears. Evil can do worse than masticate our flesh and blood - much worse. The real threat from evil is its power to transmogrify us into the most miserable and hideous of loveless beast. When we love as our God loves us, we occupy the penthouse of the kingdom of God even in the midst of adversity here in the Valley of Tears. Evil, however, can knock us out of the penthouse and down to the basement where the loveless beasts dwell. Evil has the power to petrify our hearts of flesh and turn them into hearts of stone (Ezekiel 36:26) . In short, the real problem of evil is that it can poke holes in our hearts and drain them dry of love. Evil can turn our hearts into arrid wastelands incapble of bearing fruit in any quantity whatsoever (Matthew 13:8) . We become all leaves and no figs and you know what happens to us when we are without a fig (Matthew 21:19) . Jesus sacrificed his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection to show us the best practice to follow in dealing with evil. Jesus hung from his Cross to show us how to hang from our crosses. Despite the evil that we did to his flesh and blood, Jesus clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. He kept his most Sacred Heart filled to the brim with love. Jesus led by example. He did not recommend love to us from the safety of the sidelines as a priest lobs a wordy homily at us from the safety of an ambo. Unlike the typical priest, Jesus exited the sidelines and entered the fray. He joined us in the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the war against evil armed only with a heart filled to the brim with love. Jesus demonstrated to us that love works by using it himself on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Jesus donned the jet pack and flew to show us that we, too, can fly. What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was! Jesus blazed a trail through the evil of the Valley of Tears, across the Red Sea of death, over the finish line and into the promised land - the land flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27) . He blazed the trail while nailed to a tree by pouring the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness through the bloody wounds that our evil opened in his body and into the Valley of Tears. To blaze the trail, Jesus bled love for us. Follow the trail that Jesus blazed with love. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung - to love. Hold tight and refuse to let go. Love is your passport through the gauntlet of evil. Love is the 'grease' that lubricates the wheels of our passage through the phalanx of crosses that mercilessly harass us as we make our escape through the Valley of Tears, across the Red Sea of death, over the finish line and into the promised land.

It is not our circumstances that matter. Adversity and prosperity are inconsequential. What matters is the content of our hearts. Are our hearts filled to the brim with love or are they empty of love? This is the measure of success in life.

Making the Gardens of the new Eden

Only love begets love. "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19) . From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love. The transfusion of love is invigorating. It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) . Love depetrifies hearts of stone and transforms them into hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) (Luke 17:20-21) . By continuing to love us even though we tortured and killed him - by forgiving us even though we did not deserve forgiveness (Luke 23:34) , Jesus planted the seeds of love in the soil of our hearts. The seeds of love turn into trees of love. The trees of love bear fruit "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . The trees of love form the gardens of the new Eden in the Valley of Tears. Under their canopy, the children of Adam and Eve dwell in happiness.

the sweet sap of love, through bloody wounds, pouring

The burning bush is born again (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) .
Like Moses, turn aside to see (Exodus 3:1-3)
the sweet sap of love, through bloody wounds, pouring
from our savior nailed to a tree!

In the toxic soil of godlessness,
the flower of forgiveness sprouts (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) .
Jesus is showing God to us.
Joyfully the Christian shouts (Isaiah 49:13) ! (SS)

The war is over. Jesus won

The war is over. Jesus won. What, exactly, is his victory? Using us as his proxies, the serpent tried to poke a hole in Jesus's heart to drain it dry of his love for us. Jesus resisted the assault and defied the serpent. He refused to empty his heart of his love for us. The serpent's assault on God's love for us failed. Despite the evil that we did to Jesus, Jesus clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. Indeed, during the assault, the evil that we did to Jesus opened bloody wounds in his flesh. Indeed, on a cataract of blood, the very life of Jesus rushed through his bloody wounds and out of his body. However, not a drop - not a drop - of his love for us followed his blood. His heart stayed filled to the brim with love for us. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Yet, Jesus continued to love us nonetheless. He forgave us for the brutal evil that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . Jesus did not release the rabid, three headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution through his bloody wounds and into the Valley of Tears in answer to the evil that we did to him. Jesus kept the rabid, three-headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution locked up in chains in the dungeon of his heart. Instead, he released the gentle angel of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . He transformed his bloody wounds into the floodgates of forgiveness (Malachi 3:10) . Through the floodgates of forgiveness (Malachi 3:10) , Jesus poured the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evil. "Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure!" (Malachi 3:10) . Our God dared us. We put him to the test. Through the results of the test, we discovered the dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. Sweet victory! His victory gave us an apocalyptic insight into how the mind of God works (Isaiah 55:8-9) . We caught a glimpse of our transcendent God from here in the Valley of Tears. The only thing left for us to do is to celebrate his victory and give thanks that his love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) . The Mass is the official victory party at which our celebration and thanksgiving take place.

Christianity is the religion that celebrates the victory that Jesus won over the serpent on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The war is over. Jesus won. The only thing left for us to do is to celebrate his victory and give thanks that his love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) . The Mass is the official victory party at which our celebration and thanksgiving take place. "Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) .

Love is the ingredient that makes life sweet both here in the Valley of Tears and hereafter in paradise. All love is sweet but there is nothing sweeter than God's love for us.

The God who fashioned us out of the dust with his hands (Genesis 2:7) (Genesis 18:27) put himself into the hands of the dust to leaven (Galatians 5:9) the dust with the yeast of divinity. Love is the yeast of divinity (Matthew 13:33) .

We are born conservative. Our instinct for self-preservation drives us to conserve our limited human resources and to accumulate them (Luke 12:16-21) . The most basic of our limited human resources is our flesh and blood. We have absolutely no desire to part with our flesh and blood. We only sacrifice them with great reluctance and only for something dear to us (Luke 21:1-4) . Therefore, when we meet a man who does not think as we think - who does not keep score in the same way as we keep score - who does not value his flesh and blood as much as we value ours - (Isaiah 55:8-9) , we are gobsmacked. We are knocked off our horse (Acts 9:4) . Such a man is an outlier who operates on a higher level than we do. We operate on the level of the most miserable and hideous of loveless beast as we scavenge for limited human resources in utter poverty among the ruins of Eden in brutal competition with the other loveless beasts. We can't imagine operating on a higher level - jumping from the level of the loveless beast to the level of our loving God - until our thinking is transformed and we realize that life is sweeter at the higher level no matter how many resources we accumulate on the lower level. God wants us to lift ourselves up from our level to his level. He wants us to substitute his scorecard for our scorecard - a scorecard that measures success by the love we hold in our hearts rather than the resources we accumulate for our pockets. He wants us to teach ourselves to love. Only love deifies us. Only love raises us up from the basement to the penthouse. In God's house are many dwelling places (John 14:2-3) . The place you want to be, however, is the penthouse.

The war is over. Jesus won

The war is over. Jesus won. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus drained the serpent of his power to deceive us about our God (John 8:44) . On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus showed us our God. There, Jesus gave us irrefutable evidence that illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burset of epiphany. Using us as his proxies, the serpent tried, but failed, to empty Jesus's heart of his love for us. Despite the evil that we did to him, Jesus clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. Buckets of blood spilled through the wounds that our evil opened in his flesh. But not a drop - not a drop - of his love for us followed his blood through the wounds and out of his body. His most Sacred Heart stayed filled to the brim with love for us. The evil that we did to Jesus failed to extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree. His victory showed us that limits to God’s love for us simply do not exist. They are illusions. His love for us is perfect. By forgiving us for the evil that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) , Jesus transformed his bloody wounds from the portals of his death into the portals of our life. His bloody wounds became floodgates of forgiveness. Through the floodgates, the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness is pouring prodigally into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evil. By baptizing Jesus in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) , we discovered that the dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. His love for us is real. Reality is reliable. We can depend on the reality of his love for us. His love for us is the rock on which the wise build their lives (Matthew 7:24-27) . Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid (Psalm 27) ? Will our almighty lover ever let us down? Will he ever betray us? Will he ever disappoint (Romans 8:31) ? What a wonderful God is our God! What a delight! The only thing left for us to do is to celebrate his victory. The official celebration of his victory is the Mass. The Mass is the victory party at which we celebrate the radical intransigence of his love for us. Only exposure to the victory that Jesus won on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection gets us interested in God and keeps us interested in God. However, the victory was won in the boondocks of time and space, in the "backside of the desert" (Exodus 3:1-3) , far away and long ago. Its location in history is anonymous, inconspicuous and remote. Therefore, the job of a Christian is to pick up Jesus's victory from its depository on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection and carry it from then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. God lamented, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge", (Hosea 4:6) . Therefore, our job is to "[f]ill the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) . Christianity, done right, challenges us to come to grips with the fact that our God is head over heals in love with us. It rubs our noses into this truth. It sticks this fact in our faces. It pokes us in the eye with it. It whacks us over the head with it. If you are not celebrating the victory that Jesus won on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, you are not doing Christianity. What is it that you are doing? The war is over. Jesus won. "Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) .

Have you turned aside to see this great sight?

God gobsmacks us - he knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) - with the intransigence of his love for hostile creatures. His love for creatures who tortured and killed him, who made him suffer and die, is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) . It is inelastic - absolutely insensitive to the evil that we did to him. By baptizing Jesus in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) , we discovered that the dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. Like Moses, let us turn aside to see the sap of love, through bloody wounds, pouring from our savior nailed to a tree (Exodus 3:1-3) . This is the unique victory that Jesus won on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The victory is the answer of Jesus to the evil that we did to him - he answered our evil with love. The war is over. Jesus won. Through bloody wounds, Jesus bleeds love for us. Let us celebrate his victory day and night. When they taunt us saying, 'Where is thy God?' (Psalm 42:3) , point to Him nailed to a cross bleeding, through the wounds that our evil opened in his flesh, his love for us and reply, 'There is our God!'. Exclaim and shout for joy, 'He bleeds love for us'! 'He bleeds love for us'! His bloody wounds are the floodgates through which the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness prodigally pours into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Dilution is God's solution to the problem of evil. From heaven, Jesus descended into the Valley of Tears to initiate the process of diluting its toxicity with love (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . However, he did not complete the process. Jesus was the first drop (1 John 4:19) . Our job is to turn the drop into a flood. There is a difference in opinions about who is supposed to solve the problem of evil. We want God to do it. God wants us to do it. He wants us to follow the example of Jesus and pour the sweet syrup of love into our circumstances. In the conflict of opinions, His opinion prevails. So, let's roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Jesus was absolutely insentive to the evil that we did to him. The children of Adam and Eve, on the other hand, are absolutely sensitive to the love that he pours onto us. The greater was the evil that we did to Jesus, the greater is our astonishment at the intransigence of his love for us.

Christianity is a religion that applies the wisdom that it received from Jesus Christ to solve real world problems. It does not play games. A Christian misuses the wisdom of Christianity who persists in playing the game of shooting cans off a post while a herd of wild beasts is attacking us. He needs to stop playing the game and address the attacking herd of wild beasts. How do we identify the attacking herd of wild beasts? Look to the evil that Jesus was fighting. What was the evil that Jesus was fighting? If Jesus was fighting evil's assault on his flesh and blood, he suffered an ignoble defeat. He was an utter failure. However, if Jesus was fighting evil's assault on his love for us, Jesus won a glorious victory. He was a complete success. The attacking herd of wild beasts is evil's assault on the love in our hearts. Jesus's problem with evil is our problem with evil. No difference. Shift your target from the can on the post to the attacking herd of wild beasts.

Some try to reduce Christianity into a Pavlovian system of rewards and punishments in which everything is subject to a byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole and where sinners and dogs are not welcome. They desire a tightly scripted Christianity - rigid in the extreme. Instead of applying Christianity to real problems, they want to turn Christianity into a petty parlor game where points are won and lost and only a player whose scorecard shows enough points is welcome into its rituals. They want to trivialize Christianity. If they want to keep scorecards, they should turn their ambitions to bowling or badmitton or bocce and get out of the serious business of applying the doctrine of Christianity as solutions to real problems. Instead the scorekeepers of Christianity apply doctrine merely for doctrine's sake. Christianity is more sublime than a petty game where points are won and lost and scores are kept. Christianity is a love story. God started Christianity by sending us a LOVE NOTE. It carried a kiss - a kiss from God to us. By sending us a LOVE NOTE, God initiated a cycle of love. It is unscripted. it is wild. It transcends our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears. When you try to tame it, you kill it - you murder love. You turn Christianity into a grotesque caricature of its true self. You make it dull. You make it pedestrian. The love affair between God and us is never pedestrian. It produces fruit - not uniformly - but "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) .

Unlike coffee, there is no such thing as an instant Catholic. It takes time to make a Catholic. We do not become Catholic overnight. A human being develops from a baby in the womb through other stages of life including infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. A similar framework of development takes place in the thinking of Catholics. A Catholic whose thinking is not quite up to speed with the thinking of the self-styled orthodox Catholics is still a Catholic for the same reason that a baby in the womb is still a human being.

Are you curious?

The Holy Spirit is tugging at our souls and the curious are following the tug back to its source. Along the way, the curious are exploring the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God. They are conducting their own investigations. They are doing their own research. They are drawing their own conclusions. Curiosity, not docility, moves us to pursue God. Curiosity is the self-propellant. Are you curious? Will you turn aside to see a great sight (Exodus 3:1-3) ?

Not all aspects of Christianity are equal. Some are more important than others. In talking about the aspects of Christianity, it is crucial to keep the ratio of the nitty-gritty and the pizzazz tilted in favor of the pizzazz. Getting an 'A+' for addressing the nitty-gritty of Christianity and an 'F' for not addressing its pizzazz, is not a partial success but an abysmal failure.

Clericalism is many things including an unwillingness to let the children of Adam and Eve draw their own conclusions from the evidence. It arises when our clerics themselves lack confidence in the evidence. It is a lack of faith. Clericalism also manifests itself as the pathological attempt to pattern the Church in the image and likeness of a secular government instead of in the image and likeness of the kingdom of God. In the kingdom of the king who loves us, the citizens govern themselves. We desire to please him. We trip all over ourselves in our eagerness to please him. In this manifestation of clericalism, the clergy desire to rule us as secular kings rule us through the application of a byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole instead of bearing witness to the victory of Jesus on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. In short, Clericalism is the unwillingness of our clerics to pay the exorbitant cost of love with the same currency that Jesus paid, that is, with the currency of their flesh and blood. Clericalism makes our clerics skinflints with their flesh and blood.

Christianity is the new Exodus that is marching through the Valley of Tears, across the Red Sea of death, over the finish line and into the promised land hand-in-hand, arm-in-arm together as one family to the rhythmic beat of the loving heart of our living God! Rejoice and be glad!

Faith is the assumption that God knows what he is doing.

The gem of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) exists only in a vein of evil. Even there it is quite rare. It tends to destroy the vein of evil that tries to contain it. Typically, a vein of evil is the home only to the stones of revenge, retribution and retaliation.

Discharging Our limited Responsibility

God gave us responsibility, not for the world, but for the circumstances that surround us and for the people who enter our space (Matthew 25:14-30) . From the reservoir of our hearts, our job is to pour the sweet syrup of love into our circumstances to dilute their toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad cofee. We are to pour into our circumstances the fruits of love "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . There is no substitute for the fruits of love not even a codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Why? Only love begets love. Only love depetrifies hearts of stone and transforms them into hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) (Luke 17:20-21) . A codex does not have the same power as love to transform those who enter our space. A codex stultifies; love invigorates. A codex never works; love never fails.

Only on the ladder of love can we climb, one rung at a time, from the level of the most miserable and hideous of loveless beast to the level of our loving God. At the level of the most miserable and hideous of loveless beast, God is not visible to us. Only as we ascend the ladder of love do we catch a glimpse of our transcendent God from here in the Valley of Tears. We climb to catch the glimpse.

Love is the 'grease' that lubricates the wheels of our passage through the phalanx of crosses that mercilessly harass us as we make our escape through the Valley of Tears, across the Red Sea of death, over the finish line and into the promised land.

Jesus hung from his cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, love as Jesus loved. Hold tight and refuse to let go of love, evil's invincible foe. Only love kicks evil's a@@.

Our job is to preserve the test and the results of the test and to propagate them from then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. The Mass is both the amber that preserves the test and its results and the vehicle that conveys them to us.

Nothing grows in the toxic soil of the Crucifixion. Nothing. It is a sterile matrix - hostile in the extreme. Yet, the beautiful flower of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) sprouted from the toxic soil of brutality and lethality (John 12:24) . Its birth in the context of inhospitable evil is surprising - totally unexpected. It is an anomaly that gobsmacks - an aberration that knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . The miracle that created the flower of forgiveness in the sterile matrix of the Crucifixion is the strongest force on earth. It gives Christianity its magic and Jesus his charisma. Its gravity pulls us into a centripetal orbit around him. It is the honey that draws the bees back home to the hive. Explain the miracle that made this happen and you will have discovered God. Can you figure the miracle out for yourself or do you need more hints?

More and Better Theology

a lopsided 'conversation' took place between creatures and Creator on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection in which Jesus revealed God to us. 'Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?' We harshly asked Jesus with lash, thorns, nails and cross. Jesus answered us. He did not hang mute. His tongue was not nailed to the cross. He gave us his gentle answer to the evil that we did to him. He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . Our part in the conversation was to supply the context of brutal evil. We set the stage for the star of the show. His part was an extravagantly generous expression of his philanthropy. Without the context of evil the miracle of forgiveness does not exist - it is not possible. Without the miracle of forgiveness, a wide gap would remain between our understanding of God and the nature of God. Moreover, we would not know that, within us, is the power of making the miracle of forgiveness ourselves. Only by passing through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) , do we have the opportunity to exercise our power to create the miracle of forgiveness and, thus, ascend from the level of a loveless beast to the level of our loving God. Deification is indeed possible. By forgiving us in the context of the brutal evil that we did to him, Jesus upgraded our understanding of God. "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) . It is the most important conversation between humanity and divinity since God and Moses spoke at the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-3) . God poured more and better theology into the 'conversation' than He poured into the heads of every apologist, theologian, Doctor of the Church, monk, abbot, mystic, priest, monsignor, bishop, Cardinal, Pope, hermit and saint who has ever lived or will ever live.

Christianity is love flowing in two distinct, sequential stages: the foundational stage and the applications stage

Christianity gets done at two distinct, sequential stages.

The first stage of Christianity is foundational. At the foundational stage, love flows from Jesus to us. In the first stage of Christianity, Jesus innoculates us with love - he fills our hearts to the brim with love. At the foundational stage, a Christian is both made and maintained. Jesus did not come to rule us as king (John 18:37) . He came to love us. Kings beget rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. But, only love begets love. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19) . From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love. The transfusion of love is invigorating. It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) . “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.“ (John 13:35) (Matthew 22:36-40) (1 John 4: 7-12). To make a Christian, the only approach that works is to love us as Jesus loved us (John 15:12) (John 13:34-35) . Jesus loved us even though we tortured and killed him - even though we made him suffer and die. Hence, making a Christian is not easy. Loveless Christians cannot make loving Christians because only love begets love. Loveless and Christian together are an oxymoron. Clericalism is the pathological desire of our clergy to rule us as secular kings rule us through the application of a byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole instead of bearing witness to Jesus's love for us. Clericalism is the pathological attempt to pattern the Church in the image and likeness of a secular government instead of in the image and likeness of the kingdom of God. In the kingdom of the king who loves us, the citizens govern themselves. We desire to please him. We trip all over ourselves in our eagerness to please him. Clericalism is the pathological unwillingness of our clerics to pay the exorbitant cost of love with the same currency that Jesus paid to upgrade our understanding of God, that is, with the currency of our flesh and blood. At the foundational stage of Christianity, the conversation about God takes place. The conversation centers on the beautiful flower of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) that Jesus planted in the hostile desert of godlessness. It revealed God to us. It upgrades our understanding of God. Allowing the conversation about God to go silent poses an existential threat to Christianity. An ongoing, continuing conversation about God is the lifeblood of Christianity. Without an ongoing, continuing conversation about God, Christianity is dead. Fetch a priest to give it the Last Rites (or, perhaps, if miracles do happen, to revive it?)

The second stage is the applications stage of Christianity. At the second stage, love flows from us to our neighbors. Here, we apply love to particular situations.

Most clerics do not view Christianity as being done in two distinct, sequential stages. They do not distinguish the foundational stage of Christianity from the applications stage. They cannot get their minds around the distinction. Their minds are a one gallon tank that lack the capacity to handle two gallons of information about Christianity. They jumble the two stages up into one confused mess. Furthermore, they prefer working at the applications stage and mistakenly think that, at the applications stage, they are doing foundational Christianity. However, they are not. They are not doing foundational Christianity no matter how important is the situation to which they are applying the theory of Christianity. The foundational stage of Christianity is entirely different than the applications stage of Christianity. They are two different worlds.

Because its clerics cannot wrap their heads around the distinction between the foundational stage of Christianity and the applications stage, the Church has mismanaged its portfolio. It is out of balance. The Church has invested too much into applications and not enough into foundations. The Church has allowed the ratio to get out of whack. It needs to get the ratio under control. Get the ratio under control and the rest will take care of itself. More revelation; less regulation. More witness; less king. More God; less Church. More religion; less politics. More foundation; less applications. More truth; less opinion. More Mary; less Martha. More pizzazz; less nitty-gritty. Reduce the investment in the Church's applications stage and shift it to the foundational stage of Christianity. No change in doctrine; just a change in emphasis - a tweak, nothing more.

Can we devote at least 50% of our time, energy, efforts and resources to the foundational? Is 50% too much to ask?

Christianity is a river of love - in two stages. No more. No less.

Fueling The Engines of our Curiosity

"The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God". (Psalm 14:2)

The tanks that hold the fuel for the engines of our curiosity are empty. Our clerics have neglected to fill them. Instead of putting fuel into our tanks, our clerics are off on tangents trying to apply Christianity to particular situations. They are too busy with the applications of Christianity to take care of the existential necessity of putting fuel into our tanks. The plane of Christianity won't fly without fuel for the tanks. Without fuel, it won't take the children of Adam and Eve to where their clerics want them to go. Only when the engines of our curiousity are fueled do we seek God. Without fuel, the engines of our curiosity sputter and cough to a halt. They stop running. Christianity ceases to function. Fueling the engines of our curiosity begets the pursuit of God. It is the point and place of beginning for transforming a child of Adam and Eve into a Christian. It is the foundation upon which the edifice of a Christian is built. We cannot reasonably expect the children of Adam and Eve to venture forth into the world and apply Christianity to particular situations when their tanks are empty of fuel. The question, therefore, is 'what is the fuel for our curiosity engine?'. What is the great sight that causes us, like Moses, to turn aside (Exodus 3:1-3) , to contemplate our God and to seek him? The fuel is knowledge. God lamented, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge", (Hosea 4:6) . To fuel the curiosity engine, our job is to "[f]ill the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . Only a high fidelity understanding of God prevents our destruction. The source of a high fideltiy understanding of God - the best approximation of God in the Valley of Tears - is the miracle that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, the flower of forgiveness sprouted from the toxic soil of brutality and lethality. Figure out what caused this miracle to happen and you will have discovered the fuel for the curiosity engine - you will have once again discovered the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-3) - the bush that burns with fire but fire does not consume. Fuel our curiousity with the love of God as Jesus himself presented it to us on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Can we devote 50% of our time, energy, efforts and resources to fueling our curiosity engines? Is 50% too much to ask?

"Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire" Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. .

Jesus defanged the serpent. Jesus pulled the serpent's teeth from his mouth. The serpent is now a toothless monster. He no longer poses a threat to us. We no longer have reason to fear him How? On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus forgave us for the evil that we did to him - evil that was both brutal and lethal (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) . By forgiving us, Jesus gave us irrefutable proof that nothing - nothing - can extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree. The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. Wherever the serpent is, there, too, is the God who loves us (Psalm 23). Our loving God does not leave us alone. We are not abandoned (Isaiah 41:10). His love for us is real. Reality is reliable. We can depend on the reality of his love for us. His love for us is the rock on which the wise build their lives (Matthew 7:24-27) . Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid (Psalm 27) ? Will our almighty lover ever let us down? Will he ever betray us? Will he ever disappoint (Romans 8:31) ? What a wonderful God is our God! What a delight! (SS)

The Core of Christianity

Many Christians are all bark and no bole. Their bark identifies them as Christian but the bole of their Christianity is hollow. It lacks a core. It is important for a Christian to have a core. The core of a Christian is not the Church's rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. The core of a Christian is love. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.“ (John 13:35) (Matthew 22:36-40) (1 John 4: 7-12). Love is not the same thing as morality. Love is the source of morality. Morality is the fruit of love. Love produces sweet fruits "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . The fruits of love, however, are not uniform. They vary. Be content that a tree produces fruit. Don't be disappointed when the tree produces fruit only thirtyfold. Only the fig tree that produced no fruit did Jesus curse (Matthew 21:19) . Only the servant who produced nothing was condemned (Matthew 25:14-30) . Uniformity in results is an unreasonable expectation (Matthew 13:8) . The bible itself tells us that the results will vary (Matthew 13:8) .

Love is the Christian operating system

In computers, we can divide the world into operating systems and applications. So, too, religion. Love is the Christian operating system. Morality is the applications. Applications don't run properly unless the operating system is installed, maintained and updated. Moreover, clerics are responsible for the installation and the maintainence of the operating system. The rank and file of Christianity are responsible for the applications. The edifice of morality is built on the foundation of love. And love begins with the knowledge of God. Jesus understood the chain of cause and effect. He knew the effect he wanted to produce and the cause that produces it. While we were still unrepentant (Matthew 22:10) sinners (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 7:6) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . He initiated the cycle of love. From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love. When our hearts fill to the brim with love, we produce the sweet fruits of love "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . The sweet fruits that emerge from love are the morality of a Christian. Morality emerges from the bottom up. It is not imposed by fiat from the top down. Morality is the effect of becoming a Christian not its cause. Morality is the crown of glory that the children of Adam and Eve wear after they become Christian.

Love is the foundation of the house

“At San Damiano the Crucified Christ challenged St. Francis to ‘go rebuild My house’”. A house is built from the foundation to the roof. Love is the foundation of a house. Morality is its roof. Help is wanted to rebuild God’s house. We are starting with the foundation so only foundation workers are needed. Roofers need not apply. The Church has a surplus of roofers and a shortage of foundation workers. Everybody is a roofer with an opinion about how we ought to behave. Nobody is working on the foundation trying to fill the reservoir of our hearts with love. Get the foundation right and everything else takes care of itself. Get the foundation wrong and everything else falls apart. The foundation falls within the domain of religion. Everything else is politics. The edifice of morality is built upon a foundation of love. Bypass the foundation - try to take a shortcut - cut corners - and the edifice of morality cannot be built. The sequence of construction takes place from the bottom up not the top down. Failure is the reward of the evangelist who tries to build the roof before building the foundation. Religion works from the inside out (Luke 17:20-21) (Luke 6:45) (Matthew 15:19) (Mark 7:15-21) . Religion, at least the Christian religion when done right, prepares the soil of the heart. To induce the tree to produce sweet fruit "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) , religion tries to fill our hearts to the brim with love. Love is the knowledge of God. Religion prepares the soil in order to reap the harvest. Politics, on the other hand, works from the outside in. Politicians want to reap the harvest without preparing the soil. Politics erects a prison whose bars are rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Much is sacrificed when our clerics prefer to do politics and not religion. The goals of politics and religion overlap but their methodologies are not the same - not the same at all. God does religion not politics.

BEWARE THE STERILITY OF CHRISTIANITY

Christianity, as practiced today, is sterile. Evangelists no longer get their hands "dirty". They preach an antiseptic Christiany from the safety of the sidelines. They no longer join the children of Adam and Eve in the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the war that the serpent is waging against love. They are AWOL from the frontlines. Evangelists have become sterile. They shoot blanks. They fail because they try to fill our heads with a byzantine codex of rules, regulations red tape and rigmarole. The ammunition of the evangelist is love (1 John 4:19) . Evangelists only succeed when they fill our hearts with love. "Fill the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . How? By loving. Love is done not said. Christianity is not classroom work; it is field work. Christians do not merely read about going on safari; they go on safari. They hunt the big game armed with love. For love to bear fruit, it must be practiced not merely preached. Only love begets love. Preaching about love begets nothing. Start small with your family. Slowly and steadily expand both the scope of your love and the size of your love. We learn from the revelation that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears as he proceeded from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection that God’s love for us is unlimited - unlimited in size, unlimited in scope and unlimited in duration. Limits to God’s love for us simply do not exist. They are illusions. His love for us is perfect. Not even the evil that we did to him as he proceeded on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection could extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most sacred heart nor diminish its intensity by even the slightest degree. The unlimited length, breadth and depth of God’s love for us is the Good News of Great Joy. The news does not get any better than that!

The Straight Jacket approach to making a Christian is not Jesus's approach

As we become a Christian, the expectation is that we will bear forth the fruits of repentance (Luke 3:8) (Matthew 3:7-8) . We bear fruit "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . It is ludicrous, however, to expect us to behave as a Christian behaves before we become a Christian. Behaving as a Christian behaves is the effect of becoming a Christian not its cause. The question, therefore, is, 'How is a Christian made?'. Some think that a Christian is made by the external application of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Their approach to making a Christian is to bind a network of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole on us in the same manner as a straight jacket is imposed on a recalcitrant lunatic by force. This, however, was not Jesus's approach. Jesus worked to Christianize us from the inside out not the outside in. And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:20-21) . Jesus did not come to rule us as king (John 18:37) . He came to love us. Kings beget rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. But, love begets love. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19) . From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love. The transfusion of love is invigorating. It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) . “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.“ (John 13:35) (Matthew 22:36-40) (1 John 4: 7-12). To make a Christian, the only approach that works is to love us as Jesus loved us (John 13:34-35) . Jesus loved us even though we tortured and killed him - even though we made him suffer and die. Hence, making a Christian is not easy. Loveless Christians cannot make loving Christians because only love begets love. Loveless and Christian together are an oxymoron. Beware the loveless Christians (1 Corinthians 13) with their demented grins who try to tightly wrap you up in a oppresive straight jacket of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole while preaching that the straight jacket is for your own good. Run from them. Run fast and run far. Accept upon you only the yoke of love. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30)

There are two paths through the fires of the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . We can proceed on the level of the loveless beast or on the level of our loving God. It's our choice. We pick our path. Love is the flotation device that lifts us up and out of our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears. Recognize the fire. Love your way through it.

The only way is through

There is no way around the forest of crosses. It cannot be avoided. The only way is through it. Jesus paid us a visit to show us the best way through the forest of crosses that makes war against us in the Valley of Tears. He blazed a trail through it for us. He invites us to follow him through the Valley of Tears on the trail that he blazed. The trail that Jesus blazed through the Valley of Tears is the path of least resistance. God did not pitch his tent among us to aggravate our dire predicament amongst the terrible crosses of the Valley of Tears. He pitched his tent among us to mitigate our dire predicament. He did not come to add to our crosses. The Valley of Tears has more than enough crosses to go around. Jesus came to make our passage through the forest of crosses easier not harder (Matthew 11:28-30) . Jesus hung from his cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, love as Jesus loved. Hold tight and refuse to let go of love, evil's invincible foe. Only love kicks evil's a@@. Love is the "grease" that lubricates the wheels of our passage through the forest of crosses of the Valley of Tears, over the Red Sea of death, across the finish line and into the promised land, the land of milk and honey.

The Cross does not single-handedly carry Jesus's final parable and greatest Revelation

The revelation that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears as he proceeded through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection began with the brutal evil that we did to him. However, evil did not complete it. By forgiving us for the evil that we did to Jesus (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) , Jesus completed the revelation. By forgiveness, Jesus raised the answer to the question, 'Who is God?', from the dead (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) . "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) .

The flower of forgiveness germinated in the toxic soil of the Crucifixion

Our God gently forgave us for the evil that we did to him - evil that was both brutal and lethal (Luke 23:34) . He forgave us our iniquity and remembered our sin no more (Jeremiah 31:31-34) . This truth prompts us to ask ourselves, 'Why?'. It prompts us, like Moses, to turn aside and contemplate this great sight (Exodus 3:1-3) . What miracle caused the flower of forgiveness to sprout from the toxic soil of brutality and lethality (John 12:24) ? Does love have anything to do with it? Did God's love for us cause the flower of forgiveness to make its debut in the Valley of Tears? Nothing grows in the toxic soil of the Crucifixion. Nothing. It is a sterile matrix - hostile in the extreme. So when the flower of forgiveness sprouted and grew, we beheld a miracle. When grown, the flower of forgiveness will become "the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof" (Matthew 13:31-32) . The children of Adam and Eve are the birds of the air. God is our nest.

Experiencing Jesus for ourselves on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection

Drop us smack dab into the middle of the asymmetric exchange between creatures and Creator that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Let us look with our own eyes into the eyes of our loving God as we torture and kill him - as we make him suffer and die. Let us listen with our own ears as Jesus says for us to hear, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Matthew 26:28) . The knowledge of God thus revealed to us strikes us with a mighty blow. The mighty blow shatters into bits and pieces the illusion that hides the nature of God from us as the blow of a sledgehammer shatters glass. It gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . Like Moses astonished, we turn aside to see this great sight (Exodus 3:1-3) trying to understand it better. Our curiosity wants more. By forgiving us for the evil that we did to him even though we did not deserve forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) , Jesus created the strongest force on earth. Love in the form of forgiveness gives Christianity its magic and Jesus his charisma. The gravity of his gentle answer to the brutal and lethal evil that we did to him pulls us into a centripetal orbit around him. It is the honey that draws the bees back home to the hive. Blessed are they who have ears to hear and eyes to see this parable - the parable that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection - Jesus's last and his greatest parable (Matthew 13:9-17) . Blessed are they who bear witness to the apocalypse.

If you haven't been gobsmacked by the sweep syrup of love that pours forth from the bloody wounds that our evil opened in his body - if you have not been knocked off your horse (Acts 9:4), you are not yet a Christian. To become a Christian, drop yourself smack dab in the middle of the lopsided transaction that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. With your own eyes look at the evil that we did to him - evil both brutal and lethal. With your own ears, listen to his surprisingly gentle answer to the evil that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . Be warned. Brace yourself. Prepare to be gobsmacked. Prepare to fall from your horse (Acts 9:4). The love of God is about to fall on you like a ton of bricks.

Christianity is a bucket brigade of love

God is calling us to reestablish the connection with him that God had with Adam and Eve in paradise. How? By upgrading our understanding of God, we reestablish the connection. Our understanding of God is upgraded when we understand that while we were still unrepentant (Matthew 22:10) sinners (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 7:6) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . Love begets love. "We love him because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19) . From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love. The transfusion of love is invigorating. It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) . Love is passed in buckets from Jesus to us and from us onto the fire. Christianity, when done right, is a bucket brigade of love. Find the fire and extinguish it with love.

The fruits harvested from the transformation of a child of Adam and Eve into a Christian are not uniform. They vary. Christians produce fruit "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . If you want to bump up the results from thirtyfold to a hundredfold, do a better job preparing the soil. If you truly desire to influence the results, devote more time, energy, effort and resources to the causes. Rare is the result that can be directly produced by the shortcut of fiat. Prepare the foundation to get the results you desire. Only the best prepared soil produces the best results. Don't complain about the results when you haven't lifted a finger to prepare the soil. Be content that the tree produces fruit. Don't be disappointed when the tree produces fruit only thirtyfold. The fig tree that Jesus cursed produced no fruit (Matthew 21:19) . Only the servant who produced nothing was condemned (Matthew 25:14-30) . Uniformity in results is an unreasonable expectation (Matthew 13:8) . The bible itself tells us that the results will vary (Matthew 13:8) . Jesus understood the chain of cause and effect. He knew the effect he wanted to produce and the cause that produces it. While we were still unrepentant (Matthew 22:10) sinners (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 7:6) , God loved us first (1 John 4:19) . Only a heart filled to the brim with love releases the sweet fruit of love into the Valley of Tears. Only love begets love. Jesus initiated the cycle of love in the Valley of Tears. He started it off. Jesus descended from heaven into the Valley of Tears to initiate the process of filling our hearts to the brim with love (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . However, he did not complete the process. Jesus was the first drop (1 John 4:19) . Our job is to turn the drop into a flood.

The domain of religion is the operating system. The domain of politics is the applications. For the applications, we apply a codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole to our behavior. For the operating sytem, we close the gap between our understanding of God and the nature of God. We need a well-built operating system in order to get well-built applications. The responsibility of our clerics is the operating system. The rank and file of Christianity are responsible for the applications. There is no more grotesque beast than a hybrid of a politician and a cleric. The law of opportunity costs applies to the allocation of resources to the operating system and the applications. The more resources devoted to one, the less to the other.

The thermometer that gauges the temperature of the body of Christ is the practice of Christianity. By this measure, the patient is moribund - a few breaths away from death  "Only 25% of us go to mass" "The Closing of Catholic Schools 07/09/2020" "Catholic Schools Are Shutting Down Forever" NYT 9/5/2020 "A deeper look at Catholic schools' pandemic enrollment plunge" NCR 03/12/2021 "Report: Church Membership Among Catholics Declined Nearly 20% Since 2000" NCR 03/30/2021 . Pope Francis declared: "Brothers and sisters, Christendom no longer exists!" (Pope Francis Saturday, 21 December 2019) . The Church is rapidly plummeting down the tubes into irrelevancy. The Valley of Tears cannot afford an irrelevant Church (Matthew 16:17-19). Yet, fewer and fewer of the children of Adam and Eve are going to Mass. No one is going to Confession. The only sacrament holding its own is the sacrament of extreme unction and this is so only because the dead do not have much of a choice. Why the decline? The Church has stopped stimulating our curiosity in God. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus put into the hands of the Church a blockbuster to propagate from then and there, across space and time, to us here and now. The blockbuster was the gentle answer that Jesus gave to the brutal evil that we did to him when we baptized him (Matthew 3:13-17) in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . Instead of propagating the blockbuster, the Church detoured onto other, less important, disenchanting Christian tangents. The tangents are boring us. The children of Adam and Eve have lost interest. Our Church has murdered our curiosity in God.

our Understanding of God is fading again from the face of the earth

Catholics, led by their clerics, used to dive into the deep end of the pool that holds the knowledge of God and immerse themselves in it from head to toe. Now, we don't even get our ankles wet. Our clerics are steering us away from the pool that holds the knowledge of God and diverting us to the Church's byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. They think Christianity is about compliance and non-compliance with the codex. It is not. Kings beget rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Jesus, however, broke the mold for kingship. Instead of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole, Jesus is the king who governs us by means of love. Christianity is about closing the gap between our understanding of God and the nature of God. It is about upgrading our understanding of God. This gets done by contemplating the victory that Jesus won on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection and the victory party that celebrates his victory. The Mass is the victory party that drops us smack dab into the middle of the asymmetric exchange between creatures and Creator that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection where Jesus's victory took place. Due to clerical malpractice, however, we no longer understand Jesus's victory or the victory party that celebrates his victory. The Church's byzantine codex of the rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole does not close the gap between our understanding of God and the nature of God. The gap is closed only by immersing ourselves in the asymmetric exchange between creatures and Creator that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. (The Golden Thread of Conversation about God)

The Bait for the Fish

Sanctimonious Catholics are trying to fish for the children of Adam and Eve with the Church's byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. This bait, however, neither catches fish nor keeps fish within the gates of the Church. Best to bait the hook with the same bait that Jesus used. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. The evil that we did to Jesus was both brutal and lethal. Yet, he forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . Furthermore, He did not stay dead and he did not stop loving us (Luke 23:34) . He emerged from the dead still alive and still in love with us. His love for us survived the evil that we did to him. That he emerged from the dead still alive revealed to us his power. Nobody emerges from the dead. He did. That he emerged from the dead still in love with us, however, revealed to us something more significant about divinity than power. Our conception of divinity as power is incomplete - flawed. Divinity is also love - a mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn love (Isaiah 55:8-9) (Psalm 8:4-8) (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) . His love for us is the ingredient that makes paradise sweet. It is the bait (Matthew 4:18-19). The road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the platform that Jesus mounted at exorbitant personal cost to cast the sweet bait into the Valley of Tears to fish for the children of Adam and Eve. The fish take the bait hook, line and sinker. Why fish with any other bait?

We are formed by the experiences into which we bump as we make our escape through the Valley of Tears, over the Red Sea of death, across the finish line and into the promised land. Contact with experiences forms us.

What makes a Catholic

Compliance with the Church's byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole does not make us Catholic. Our knowledge of God makes us Catholic. We become Catholic when we understand Jesus's victory and the victory party that the Holy Spirit throws to celebrates his victory. His victory was won by the sacrifice of his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The Mass transmits the Good News of Great Joy from its depository then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now.

The Mass

Jesus established the Mass as the vehicle that conveys the revelation about God that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection from its depository then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. Jesus established the Church to operate the vehicle. The Mass is advanced, alien technology. It is a teleportation device. It warps time and space. It drops us in the middle of the asymmetric exchange between creatures and Creator that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. It immerse us in it. Immersed in this warped time and space, we upgrade our understanding of God. At Mass, the rabble and its ringleader take from Jesus his flesh and blood even though his flesh and blood do not belong to us. Jesus transubstantiates the flesh and blood of sacrifice into the bread and wine of forgiveness by forgiving us for the evil that we did to him - evil both brutal and lethal. Hence, the Mass is also the fabled philosopher's stone - it transmutes dross into gold. Jesus transmuted his bloody wounds through which his life exited his body into floodgates of forgiveness through which the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness poured into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. God dared us. Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure!" (Malachi 3:10) . We put our God to the test in the asymmetric exchange between creatures and Creator that unfolded on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Blessing without measure is now pouring down upon us through the bloody wounds of our loving God.

The Victory Party

The victory that Jesus won on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the Good News of Great Joy - very good news for us, indeed. However, the Good News of Great Joy does not propagate itself. It doesn't have its own legs. It is not self-propelled. The primary vehicle that God created to propagate the Victory of his dearly beloved Son from its depository on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, across space and time, to us here and now is the Mass. Furthermore, God established a Church to operate the vehicle. Unfortunately, most clerics do not understand the Victory that Jesus won and the purpose of the Mass. They are clueless. They cannot articulate the Vicory. They do not have the words. Without an understanding of the victory, they do not know how to celebrate the Victory party. Their ignorance of the Victory and the Victory party is the primary cause of the downfall of Christianity. Hopefully, the knowledge of the Victory and the purpose of the Victory party can be resurrected from the dead and the decline of Christianity can be arrested and reversed. When Christianity is in decline, the children of Adam and Eve suffer.

The Victory and the Victory Party

The Church has lost its understanding of the relationship between the victory and the victory party. It cannot articulate the victory nor the victory party.

The victory was won on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The Cross of Christ is the monument that God caused to be erected to mark the location of the victory (1 Corinthians 1:17) . On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, the serpent, using us as his proxies, tried, but failed, to drain his most Sacred Heart of his love for us. He clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go despite the evil that we did to him. We baptized the God who loves us in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We nailed the God who loves us to a cross where he hung until death. We took from the God who loves us his flesh and blood (Mark 7:21) even though they did not belong to us. The God who loves us forgave us (Luke 23:34) even though we did not deserve forgiveness. Our audacious God did not wait for our conversion to forgive us but forgave us to bring about our conversion (Matthew 22:10) (John 15:13) (John 12:24) (Love is the Gold Standard of Christianity) . Sweet victory was achieved when the evil that we did to Jesus failed to budge the dial that controls his love for us. In victory, we discovered that the dial is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and locked in place (Jeremiah 31:3) . His love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) .

The Mass is the victory party that the most Holy Trinity throw to celebrate Jesus's victory over our enemy (John 8:44) , the serpent. A Mass is not the celebration of the presence of the Son of God. Indeed, he is the guest of honor - the hero of the victory. However, much more is going on at Mass than his mere presence. A Mass is a celebration of his victory. His victory is not retold at Mass. His victory is relived. A Mass is a re-enactment of the victory. It is Jesus's pageant of triumph in which both creatures and Creator participate. The Mass is the vehicle that God invented to propagate the victory from the segment of Jesus's life that unfolded on the road from Crucifixion to the Resurrection, across space and time, to us here and now. God also established a Church to operate the vehicle.

Reverential silence? Pshaw! A Mass is not a wake. It is a victory party. A victory party is a raucus celebration - a celebration of joy and happiness (Luke 19:37-41) . Wow! Sing, dance, eat and drink! Do not be silent. Do not be still. Celebrate! He won! And we are the beneficiaries of his victory!

The Struggle for Supremacy

In the Catholic Church, a struggle for supremacy is taking place. On one side are the old Kings who try to impose by fiat a byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole upon the children of Adam and Eve who have taken refuge within the Church's gates. With a heavy hand, they want to throw the book at them (Matthew 23:1-4) . On the other side are the new Kings who think that Jesus is a different kind of King - that he broke the mold for kingship. He is not the king who rules us. He is the king who loves us. In place of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole, the means by which he governs us is love. In the kingdom of the king who loves us, the citizens govern themselves. We desire to please him. We trip all over ourselves in our eagerness to please him. Wow! Where do I sign up? How do I enlist? How do I join the kingdom of the King who loves sinners like me (Romans 5:8). Who will win the struggle for supremacy in the Catholic Church? In any event, the struggle divides the house and a house divided cannot stand (Mark 3:25) . The serpent is laughing at our house divided as he leads those confused by the struggle to perdition. (The Golden Thread of Conversation about God)

The Church's byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole does not gobsmack us. It does not knock us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It is not the great sight that caused Moses and causes us to turn aside to see (Exodus 3:1-3) .

The knowledge of God is the lever that lifts the children of Adam and Eve up and out of their dire predicament in the Valley of Tears.

for my strength is made perfect in weakness

"for my strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Understand this and your understanding of God is perfected. Omnipotence is not needed to do God. Jesus showed us that in weakness, we still can do God. In utter weakness, Jesus forgave us for the evil that we did to him - evil both brutal and lethal. We took from Jesus his flesh and blood even though his flesh and blood did not belong to us. He forgave us even though we did not deserve forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . Jesus led by example. Jesus did not just recommended the power of love to us from the safety of the sidelines as a priest lobs a homily at us from the safety of an ambo. Unlike the typical priest, Jesus exited the sidelines and entered the fray. He joined us in the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the war against evil armed only with the gift of love in the form of forgiveness. Jesus demonstrated that the gift of love works by using it himself on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Jesus donned the jet pack and flew to show us that we, too, can fly. What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was! Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, love as Jesus loved. Hold tight and refuse to let go of love, evil's invincible foe. Only love kicks evil's a@@. God dared us. Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure!" (Malachi 3:10) . We put our God to the test in the asymmetric exchange between creatures and Creator that unfolded on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Blessing without measure is now pouring down upon us through the bloody wounds of our loving God. Furthermore, God guaranteed our success. Jesus promised victory to the warriors who exit the trenches and storm the gates of hell (Matthew 16:18). 'Charge' is the cry of victory. Victory is not won by circling the wagons and maintaining a defensive posture. Victory is won when we go on the offensive. When we storm the gates of hell, the gates of hell will not withstand our attack. The gates will be breached. Our love will penetrate the gates of hell (Matthew 16:18), enter our enemies' hearts of stone, depetrify them and transform them into hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) (Luke 17:20-21) . Success is guaranteed (Matthew 16:18). Rejoice and be glad!

To discover the true nature of God, put yourself in the middle of the asymmetric exchange between creatures and Creator that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Immerse yourself in it. In this space, we tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. The evil that we did to Jesus in this space was both brutal and lethal. Yet, he forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . Forgiveness for the evil that we did to Jesus even though we did not deserve forgivness strikes us as a sledgehammer would strike us. It gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . We are astonished. Like Moses, we turn aside to see this great sight (Exodus 3:1-3) . We see an aspect of God much different than the God who smote the Egyptians. Our astonishment drives us to discover more about the God who loves us. Unworthy is the child of Adam and Eve who is not astonished by Jesus's sacrifice of his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 11:27-29) , who does not turn aside to see this great sight (Exodus 3:1-3) and who does not eat the bread and wine of forgiveness.

The process of salvation has begun

In the sight of God, the problem in need of solution is the source of evil (Matthew 15:18-19) . The particular evils that we experience are byproducts of hearts that are empty of love. God, therefore, is trying to fix the source of evil in order to fix its manifestations. God thinks that his job, and our job as well, is to inflate deflated hearts with love. His purpose is to fill our hearts to the brim with love. He knows how to do it, too. Only love begets love. While we were still unrepentant (Matthew 22:10) sinners (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 7:6) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . He initiated a cycle of love. He started it off. Jesus descended from heaven into the Valley of Tears to initiate the process of filling our hearts to the brim with love (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . However, he did not complete the process. Jesus was the first drop (1 John 4:19) . Our job is to turn the drop into a flood. Our job is to raise the children of Adam and Eve from the level of the most miserable and hideous of loveless beasts forlornly scavenging in utter poverty and in brutal competition with each other among the ruins of Eden to the level of our loving God - from the basement of existence to the penthouse. In the penthouse of existence are blessed souls whose hearts are filled to the brim with love.

Jesus himself served the bread and wine of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) (Luke 22:19) (Luke 22:20) (John 6:31-59) to the sinners who brutally took his flesh and blood from him. We took from Jesus his flesh and blood even though his flesh and blood did not belong to us. Jesus forgave us even though we did not deserve forgiveness. This was the miracle of miracles. This was the Good News of Great Joy.

Unconditionally forgiving us for the evil that we did to him while we were still unrepentant (Matthew 22:10) sinners (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 7:6) was the audacious part of God's plan to rescue us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears.

Jesus put on a demonstration of divinity from within the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. Yet, he forgave us (Luke 23:34) . By forgiving us, Jesus revealed God to us "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) .

The Church's byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole does not give Christianity its magic or Jesus his charisma. In fact, it stultifies. Jesus and Christianity are more than a secular government that rules us. Jesus did not come to rule us as king (John 18:37) . He came to love us (1 John 4:19) . Kings beget rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. But, love begets love. Laws do not change hearts. Only love changes hearts (Ezekiel 36:26) .

The most powerful force on earth

By forgiving us for the brutal evil that we did to him even though we did not deserve forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) , Jesus created the strongest force on earth. Love in the form of forgiveness gives Christianity its magic and Jesus his charisma. The gravity of his gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him pulls us into a centripetal orbit around him. The greater was the brutal evil that we did to Jesus, the more astonishing is his forgiveness of us, and the greater is our need to turn aside, like Moses, to see this great sight (Exodus 3:1-3) . "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) (John 12:24) . How great is the love of a Creator who lays down his life for his creatures despite their hostility- both brutal and lethal - toward him? Our job is to preserve the truth about God that Jesus revealed to us by forgiving us for the brutal evil that we did to him on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection and to propagate it from then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now (Mark 16:15) . Then, we get out of the way and let God go to work. The Church goes off the rails when it fails to get out of God's way - when it arrogates to itself God's work. We do not transform ourselves. The Church does not transform us. Only God does and he only does so by exposure to the powerful gravity of his love for us. Preservation and propagation are the jobs of the Church. Transformation is the job of God. The Church is the usher who shows us to our seats not the star of the show. Jesus is the star of the show. The show took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Encore presentations of the show take place whenever a Mass is said. Beware clerics who think that they are the star of the show. Run from them. Run fast and run far.

The Church Operates Two Conflicting Domestic Policies

The Church operates two conflicting domestic policies for the children of Adam and Eve who abide within its gates. One of its domestic policies seeks to impose upon the children of Adam and Eve who abide within its gates a stutltifying and byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Its other domestic policy is to fill our hearts to the brim with love. Which is the better domestic policy? Let Jesus answer the question. Jesus did not come to rule us as king (John 18:37) . He came to love us (1 John 4:19) . Kings beget rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. But, love begets love. Laws do not change hearts. Only love changes hearts (Ezekiel 36:26) . Clerics, especially the sanctimonious of them, prefer to legislate than love. They prefer the power of kingship than the humility of love. It is easier to legislate than love so they prefer the easy way. Legislation, however, is the wide way that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14) . Love is the narrow gate that leads to life and few there be that find it (Matthew 7:13-14) . When the fallow ground does not produce the sweet fruits that our cleric / kings have commanded by fiat, the cleric / kings grow apoplectic despite the fact that they failed to lift a finger to help cultivate the soil of love (Matthew 13:8) (Luke 6:45) . Only when our cleric / lovers cultivate the fallow ground with love, do the children of Adam and Eve bear sweet fruit "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . Please note that the policy of filling our hearts to the brim with love is the Church's foreign policy - the policy that it applies to the foreigners - the evildoers, the godless, the disinterested - who abide outside its gates.

what is the Church's foreign policy?

What is the Church's foreign policy? What is the Church's policy with regard to the foreigners - the evildoers, the godless, the disinterested - who abide outside its gates? Does it even have a foreign policy? Only by contemplating the Church's foreign policy can we understand the defects in its domestic policy. What good are the Church's sacraments to foreigners who do not participate in them? What good is the Church's byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole to foreigners who are disinterested in them?

Prioritization of Projects

Trying to bring the children of Adam and Eve into compliance with a byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole is a different project than trying to fill our hearts to the brim with love. Which is the project of a Christian? Which project deserves priority? How do we accomplish each project? Are the methodologies the same or different? Where does narrowing the gap between our understanding of God and the nature of God fit in to these distinct projects? Close the gap -> fill our hearts to the brim with love -> bear sweet fruit "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . That is the pathway of salvation. Closing the gap and filling our hearts to the brim with love are the causes. Bearing fruit is the effect. To influence the effect, take control of its causes. To accomplish nothing, ignore the causes and try to directly control the effect. The tail does not wag the dog. Sanctimonious Christians delight in confronting others with their non-compliances with our Church's codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Jesus, on the other hand, confronted the children of Adam and Eve with the reality of God's love for us. Jesus challenges us to come to grips with the fact that he forgave us for the evil - both brutal and lethal - that we did to him. He rubs our noses into this truth. He sticks this fact in our faces. Who shall we follow? Jesus or the sanctimonious Christians?

Jesus forged the most powerful weapon in God's arsenal by sacrificing his own flesh and blood in the furnace of affliction

To wage war againt evil, our almighty God had a vast arsenal of weapons at his disposal. God could have waged war against evil in many different ways. He had a variety of options. Yet, the option that God settled upon was the weapon that Jesus forged by sacrificing his own flesh and blood in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. What was the weapon that Jesus forged? What weapon emerged from the sacrifice of his flesh and blood in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) ? Jesus forged The sledgehammer of forgiveness. It is the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of God.

On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Yet, he did not stay dead and he did not stop loving us. He emerged from the dead still alive and still in love with us. That he emerged from the dead still alive revealed to us his power. Nobody emerges from the dead. He did. That he emerged from the dead still in love with us, however, revealed to us something more significant about divinity than power. Our understanding of divinity as power is incomplete - flawed. Divinity is also love - a mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn love (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) . His love for us did not fade as we tortured him and did not die when we killed him. His love for us survived the brutal evil that we did to him. The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. What emerged from the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) ? What weapon did Jesus forge in it? Forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . Out of love for us, Jesus released the sweet syrup of forgiveness into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . The greater was the brutal evil that we did to Jesus, the more astonishing is his forgiveness of us, and the greater is our need to turn aside, like Moses, to see this great sight (Exodus 3:1-3) . Forgiving us for the brutal evil we did to him strikes us as a blow from a sledgehammer shatters glass. A blow from The sledgehammer of forgiveness gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . With The sledgehammer of forgiveness (Sledgehammer) (Luke 23:34) , we smite the miserable and hideous of loveless beasts over the head and across the body. We smite them as Jesus smited us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . Only love begets love. While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . He initiated the cycle of love. He started it off. He did not wait for us to fill our hearts to the brim with love before he forgave us (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 22:10) (Matthew 7:6) (John 8:10 -11) . He forgave us to fill our hearts to the brim with love. How audacious is the God who loves us! What other god is like our God? The mighty blows from The sledgehammer of forgiveness wake the loveless from their slumber. They rouse the loveless from the dead (Ephesians 5:14) . The application of the sledgehammer of forgiveness to evil shatters hearts of stone and transform them into hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) . Only a blow from The sledgehammer of forgiveness transforms us - transforms godless people into people of God. "Have a great love for those who contradict and fail to love you, for in this way love is begotten in a heart that has no love" St. John of the Cross. Confrontational Christianity confronts the children of Adam and Eve with the reality of God's love for us. It is Christianity done right. Confrontational Christianity challenges us to come to grips with the fact that our God is head over heals in love with us. It rubs our noses into this truth. It sticks this fact in our faces. It pokes us in the eye with it. It whacks us over the head with it. If you are not delivering blows to the miserable and hideous loveless beasts with the The sledgehammer of forgiveness, you are not doing Christianity.

The Only Foundation that Matters is the foundation that Jesus built with his own flesh and blood

Unless you anchor your understanding of God to the foundation that Jesus built with his own two hands from the bricks and mortar of his flesh and blood, a wide gap will exist between your understanding of God and the nature of God. You will have a low fidelity understanding of God. Your understanding of God will be a poor approximation. Only the foundation that Jesus built on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection gives us a high fidelity understanding of God - the best approximation. It is ironic but the Word of God (John 1:1) wasn't an author. He was a carpenter (Mark 6:3) . The Word of God (John 1:1) didn't tell us about God with words. He showed us God at work in the world. The carpenter (Mark 6:3) built a unique revelation about God into the very fabric of reality by participating in a lopsided transaction that unfolded on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The lopsided transaction was the vehicle that Jesus drove to convey an upgraded understanding of God to us. Our contribution to the lopsided transaction was brutal evil. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Jesus's contribution to the lopsided transaction was his flesh and blood. The byproduct of the lopsided transaction illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. Jesus forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . Jesus brought the knowledge of God back into the Valley of Tears by means of forgiveness for the brutal evil that we did to him. The greater was the brutal evil that we did to him, the more astonishing is his forgiveness of us. We took from him his flesh and blood even though his flesh and blood did not belong to us. He forgave us even though we did not deserve forgiveness. The gift of forgiveness was gratuitous, unilateral, and unconditional. Jesus took the first step in the hope that we would take the second. He gave us the gift of forgiveness not after we had become loving angels but while we were still miserable and hideous loveless beasts (Matthew 7:6) . While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . He did not wait for our conversion before he forgave us (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 22:10) (Matthew 7:6) (John 8:10 -11) . He forgave us to bring about our conversion. How audacious is the God who loves us! Is any other god as audacious as the Christian God? "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . When we discover the miracle of forgiveness (John 14:6) that Jesus performed on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection through the sacrifice of his flesh and blood, we close the gap between the nature of God and our understanding of God. "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) .

The interregnum between the gift of Life and the Gift of Paradise

The gift of paradise is delayed not denied. Why the delay? Once upon a time, God delivered the gift of life and the gift of paradise simultaneously. This delivery schedule, however, did not work. It was a failure. Lucifer, the gaggle of angels who follow Lucifer, Eve, Adam and the prodigal son fumbled the ball. They let the gift of paradise slip through their fingers. God, therefore, inserted a delay between the gift of life and the gift of paradise - an interregnum. He adjusted the delivery schedule. Instead of simultaneous delivery, he instituted sequential delivery. During the delay, we are baptized in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . Our baptism in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) is harsh but effective medicine. The prodigal son will never go back to the pig sty. Neither will we. We are disobedient not irrational. Our baptism in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) is the glue that binds us to the gift of paradise.

The sweet truth was revealed to us

The sweet truth was revealed to us. It is not autodidactic. The revelation was released into the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The Cross of Christ marks the spot of the revelation (1 Corinthians 1:17) . Rally 'round the Cross!

The Sour Truth is Autodidactic

Letting us stew in the Valley of Tears like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine is harsh but effective medicine. So God perscribes it. The medicine drains the serpent's greatest lie of its power to deceive. It defangs the serpent. While we stew in the Valley of Tears, the children of Adam and Eve learn that a life without God sucks. Godlessness is autodidactic. A life lived without God in the Valley of Tears is the sledgehammer of truth that shatters the illusion conjured up by the serpent that sugarcoated the sourness of godlessness. It shatters the illusion as the blow of a hammer shatters glass. We do not become gods without God in the Valley of Tears (Genesis 3:5) . The serpent lied to the children of Adam and Eve (John 8:44) . His lies are not to be trusted. They are unreliable. As we stew in the Valley of Tears like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine, we discover that the serpent has no credibility. Intimate contact with the sour truth in the Valley of Tears opens our eyes to the truth about the serpent. Intimate contact with the truth itself packs the strongest persuasive punch. It gives our rationality a powerful wallop. God is the artist who paints the Masterpiece of Reality on the Canvas of our Rationality in the Pigments of Truth . “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32) . The truth is the fuel of our rationality. When fueled by the the truth, our rationality steers us in the right direction. When the fuel of truth is fouled by a lie, our rationality leads us astray (John 8:44).

Our baptism in the Valley of Tears destroys the sweet illusion of Godless Deification

What shatters the sweet illusion of godless deification (Genesis 3:5) that the serpent (John 8:44) promised Adam and Eve and, hence, us? What drains the serpent's greatest lie of its power to deceive? What defangs the serpent? Our baptism in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) as we make our escape through the Valley of Tears, over the Red Sea of death, across the finish line, and into the promised land shatters the sweet illusion of godless deification (Genesis 3:5) that the serpent (John 8:44) promised Adam and Eve and, hence, us. The evil that afflicts us in the Valley of Tears shatters the illusion as the blow of a hammer shatters a pane of glass. We do not become gods without God in the Valley of Tears (Genesis 3:5) . There is no such thing as godless deification. The serpent bullshitted us. The serpent's bullshit distorted our perception of reality. The truth is the fuel of our rationality. When fueled by the the truth, our rationality steers us in the right direction. When the fuel of truth is fouled by a lie, our rationality leads us astray (John 8:44). God has taken steps to make sure that we come into intimate contact with the truth - both the sour truth and the sweet truth. The truth is the sledgehammer that shatters our illusions as the blow of a hammer shatters a pane of glass. God is the artist who paints the Masterpiece of Reality on the Canvas of our Rationality in the Pigments of Truth . “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32) .

God has taken steps to Mitigate the direness of our Predicament in the Valley of Tears

God knows that our predicament in the Valley of Tears is dire. Our sighs, mourning and weeping as we pass through the Valley of Tears (Salve Regina) leave our lips, reach God's ear and break God's heart. So he has taken steps to mitigate its direness. God set an upper limit on the amount of time we stew in the toxicity of the Valley of Tears like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine. This measure was the first things God did to mitigate the direness of our predicament in the Valley of Tears. The brevity of life proves the mercy of God. Life is but an infinitesimally thin slice of time compared to the thickness of eternity. Moreover, it gets thinner and thinner with the passage of time. In other words, it won’t be long now.

Note: Jesus was the next step in the process of mitigating our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears. Jesus was the sweet syrup of love that God poured into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee.

Different Scorecards

The scorecard that God keeps is not the same as the scorecard that we keep. The 'game' that we are scoring is quite different than the 'game' that God is scoring. Enlightenment is discovering the 'game' that God is scoring and playing it.

The Teeth of the Serpent's Crosses

The sharp teeth of the serpent's crosses chew us up into bits and pieces.

The Tongues of the Serpent's Crosses

The tongues of the serpent's crosses are sharper than their teeth. The tongues of the serpent's crosses broadcast virulent anti-god propaganda into every nook and cranny of the Valley of Tears. “Where is your savior now?”, they taunt us as their teeth mercilessly masticate us into bits and pieces. “Despair! Abandon hope! You are alone and forsaken. Nobody is coming to rescue you” (Matthew 27:42 - 46) . The argument that the tongues of the serpent's crosses make is a very powerful anti-god argument. The tongues of the serpent's crosses push us to the edge of despair. Like Jesus, we cry out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me" (Matthew 27:46) ? Our cries are in accordance with the versimilitude but they break God's heart.

Jesus Neutralized the Serpent's powerful anti-god propaganda

The tongues of our crosses testify to a loveless God, a God who is AWOL. The Cross of Jesus, however, testified otherwise. Jesus commandeered a cross - the instrument of our woe - and re-purposed it to offer us the counter-argument to the serpent's powerful anti-god propaganda. He forgave us for the brutal evil that we did to him (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . The testimony that Jesus gave while hanging from the Cross neutralizes the serpent’s powerful anti-God propaganda.

Testing the Intransigence of God's Love for us

In the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) , we tested the intransigence of God's love for us. We subjected it to extreme stress. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. We baptized him in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . Yet, his love for us did not fade as we tortured him and did not die when we killed him. His love for us survived the brutal evil that we did to him. The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. From our brutal mistreatment of Jesus, we discovered the nature of God. The nature of God was revealed to us. The greater was the evil that we did to him, the more astonishing is the intransigence of his love for us.

Isn't it time to look at Christianity with a fresh set of eyes (Acts 9:18) ?

Jesus promised victory to his warriors who exit the trenches and storm the Gates of Hell

Jesus promised victory to his warriors who exit the trenches and storm the gates of hell (Matthew 16:18). 'Charge' is the cry of victory. Victory is not won by circling the wagons and maintaining a defensive posture. Victory is won when we go on the offensive. When we storm the gates of hell, the gates of hell will not withstand our attack. The gates will be breached. Our love will penetrate the gates of hell (Matthew 16:18), enter our enemies' hearts of stone, depetrify them and transform them into hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) (Luke 17:20-21) . Success is guaranteed (Matthew 16:18).

Exiting the foxholes of self-absorption

When we start to think that the enemy is within us, we become pathologically self-absorbed. We shift our focus from love to sin. To do battle in the war against the evil that besieges us, Jesus showed us that we need to fill our hearts to the brim with love. Love produces fruit "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . The fruit that love produces is proper behavior. We conform our behavior not to a byzantine and stutifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. We conform our behavior to love. When we become pathologically self-absorbed, we leave ourselves vulnerable to the serpent's crosses that chew us up into bits and pieces. The powerful weapon that Jesus forged in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) was not a byzantine and stutifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. The powerful weapon that Jesus forged in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) was the alien technology of applying love to evil. Our focus needs to shift from the enemy within us to the external enemy - the serpent's crosses that besiege us. We must exit the foxholes of self-absorption and storm the gates of hell wielding the alien technology that Jesus forged for us in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) .

The war against evil is not waged by each of us alone but by each of us as part of an army. It is not a one-on-one contest. It is a 'team sport'.

Jesus transported advanced, alien technology from heaven to earth to equip the army that he recruited for its battle against evil

To bring us the "best practice" to follow in dealing with our crosses, Jesus transported advanced, alien technology from heaven to earth. The advanced, alien technology is the practice of keeping our hearts filled to the brim with love. Love dilutes the sting of our crosses in the same manner that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Dilution is God's solution to the sting of our crosses. Love is the honey that ameliorates the sting. The sting of our crosses is the glue that binds us to the gift of paradise. It is harsh medicine. Love is the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down in the most delightful way Mary Poppins. The technology is counterintuitive. Ordinarily, evil begets evil, not love. Evil initiates a cycle of evil. When stung by a cross, ordinarily we respond by releasing the three headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution into our circumstances. That is our natural instinct - a reflex. Jesus suggests that we are better off when we deny our natural instinct and suppress the reflex (Matthew 16:24). He teaches that the cycle of evil comes to a screeching halt when the monkey wrench of love is thrown into it. Instead of releasing the three headed monster in response to evil, Jesus wants us to release the Angel of forgiveness. He wants us to pour the sweet syrup of love into our circumstances to dilute their toxicity. According to Jesus, love is the "grease" for the wheels of our passage through the gauntlet. Jesus did not just recommended the technology to us from the safety of the sidelines as a priest lobs a homily at us from the safety of an ambo. He led by example. Unlike the typical priest, Jesus exited the sidelines and entered the "game". He joined us in the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the war against evil armed only with the monkey wrench of love. Jesus demonstrated that the technology works by using it himself on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Jesus donned the jet pack and flew to show us that we, too, can fly. What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was! Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, love as Jesus loved. Hold tight and refuse to let go of love, sufferings invincible foe. Only love kicks evil's a@@.

The Son of God did not transport and demonstrate pie-in-the-sky, head-in-the-clouds technology. He transported and demonstrated down-to-earth, practical technology. We can use it today, not just tomorrow, profitably. It is relevant to this world not just to the next.

Furthermore, the technology is platform agnostic. It works whether you are a Roman Catholic, other Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Pagan, Atheist, Saint, Sinner or something else. Jesus released the technology into the public domain. It is open source technology. It is catholic in the broadest sense of the word. No religion has a monopoly over it.

Indeed, it is radical technology. Because love has the property of buoyancy, a heart filled to the brim with love serves as a flotation device. It is a hot air balloon that lifts us up and out of the hostile truth of the Valley of Tears. Love is the helium of the heart. The technology allows each of us to ascend from the level of the most miserable and hideous of loveless beast to the level of our loving God. THE TECHNOLOGY DEIFIES US (Matthew 22:36-40) .

The author invites us to enter the story of God

The story of God as told by the flesh and blood of Jesus, our God who loves us, occupies the moment with us. It overshadows us. It is dynamic not static. Like a train, it is moving through our moment. All aboard! All aboard! The train is about to leave the station. (Matthew 25: 1-13) ! [If the exigency is not felt, the Church is not doing its job (Matthew 3:7) .] An invitation to enter the story of God has been extended to us. Do we catch it or do we let it pass us by? Do we board it or do we skulk outside it and stay a stranger to it?

Confrontational Christianity

The type of Christianity that Jesus practiced in the Valley of Tears was confrontational Christianity. Confrontational Christianity confronts the children of Adam and Eve with the reality of God's love for us. It is Christianity done right. Confrontational Christianity challenges us to come to grips with the fact that our God is head over heals in love with us. It rubs our noses into this truth. It sticks this fact in our faces. It pokes us in the eye with it. It whacks us over the head with it. The Son of God's gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the best evidence of his love of us. He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) ). To know forgiveness is to know love (Luke 6:43-45) . To know love is to know God (1 John 4:8) . To know God is to have eternal life (John 17:3) . The evidence that we discover when we explore the lopsided transaction that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is irrefutable. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus threw the holy pearls of love in the form of forgiveness to us while we were still dogs and swine (Matthew 7:6) (Romans 5:8) . His purpose was to elevate us from the level of the most miserable and hideous of loveless beasts to the level of our loving God - from the basement to the penthouse. Only love begets love. "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19) . "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) (John 12:24) . How great is the love of a Creator who lays down his life for his creatures despite their brutal hostility toward him? We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Yet, his love for us did not fade as we tortured him and did not die when we killed him. His love for us survived the brutal evil that we did to him. The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. His love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) . The intransigency of his love for sinners does not make any sense (Isaiah 55:8-9) . The magnitude of such love is not easy for us to comprehend (Isaiah 55:8-9) . The greater was the brutality of the evil that we did to Jesus, the greater is our astonishment at the intransigence of his love for us. Our astonishment is the spark that triggers our curiosity in God. The Holy Spirit is tugging at our souls. But only the curious are following the tug back to its source. His love for us is the strongest attractive force on earth. It gives Christianity its magic and Jesus his charisma. The gravity of his gentle answer pulls us into a centripetal orbit around him. The gentle answer that Jesus gave us gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It is the blockbuster that changes the game. It is the catalyst of our conversion - the agent of our transformation. It shifts the paradigm. Only Christians who lack faith in the power of the love of God to capture the children of Adam and Eve and bring them into orbit around Jesus would bait their hook with some other bait (Matthew 4:19) (John 21:6) . They think that their bait is superior to the sweet bait that Jesus used. Arrogance! Their ersatz bait only drives the fish away. When you fish for the children of Adam and Eve, bait your hook as Jesus baited his. Bait your hook with the love of God. The love of God catches fish hook, line and sinker. Why fish with any other bait?

Who is God?

The answer to the question, 'Who is God?', was embedded in Jesus's flesh and blood. Why was it put there? How did it get out and into the Valley of Tears?

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge", God lamented (Hosea 4:6) . Since Eden, our understanding of God had faded from the face of the Earth (Hosea 4:6) (John 10:5) (Psalm 69:8) (Exodus 2:22) . To save us from destruction, God dispatched his dearly beloved Son with the mission to resurrect our understanding of God from the dead (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) (Ephesians 5:14) . The plan was to use the flesh and blood of Jesus as the instruments that guarantee the genuineness of his answer to the question, 'Who is God?'. His flesh and blood provided the children of Adam and Eve with a certificate of authenticity. Jesus was the treasure chest; his flesh and blood carried the treasure. Only by upgrading our understanding of God could God save us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears. In his flesh and blood, the answer waited for its cue to enter the Valley of Tears. Evil was its cue. Our evil summoned the answer to the question, 'Who is God?', from his flesh and blood. We issued the summons on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. "Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?" We interrogated Jesus with lash, thorns, nails and cross. It was a brutal interrogation. We gave him the third degree (Wikipedia) . We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. In response to our brutal interrogation, Jesus did not stand mute. His tongue did not become tied. He did not take the fifth (Wikipedia) . He released the answer to the question, 'Who is God?', into the Valley of Tears (Luke 22:42) . The brutal evil that we did to Jesus opened bloody wounds in his flesh. Jesus transubstantiated his bloody wounds into floodgates (Malachi 3:10) through which the answer to the question, 'Who is God?', poured into the Valley of Tears to illuminate the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. Our evil served as the midwife who delivered the answer from the darkness into the light. The edifice of Christianity is built upon His answer to the brutal evil that we did to him. His response is the foundation of Christianity. Our job, by virtue of our baptism as Christians, is to preserve the answer to the question, 'Who is God?' that Jesus revealed to us on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection and to propagate it from then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. Then we step out of the way so God can go to work. The gentle answer that Jesus gave us gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It is the blockbuster that changes the game. It is the catalyst of our conversion - the agent of our transformation. It shifts the paradigm. Are you privy to his answer? What is it? Can you articulate it? How did Jesus respond to the brutal evil that we did to him?

The Boobytrap

Jesus boobytrapped his most Sacred Heart with love in the form of forgiveness. God rigged it to explode. The evil that we did to him detonated it. The detonation opened bloody wounds in his flesh. Jesus transubstantiated his bloody wounds into floodgates (Malachi 3:10) through which the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness poured into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Jesus was the first drop (1 John 4:19) in the process of "[f]ill[ing] the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . He started the process. However, he did not complete it. Our job is to complete it. Our job is to turn the drop into a flood. Our job is to preserve the truth about God that Jesus revealed to us and to propagate it. Our job is to preserve the miracle of forgiveness that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection and to propagate it from then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now (Mark 16:15) . Then, we get out of the way and let God go to work. Forgiveness, the gentle answer that God gave us to the brutal evil that we did to him, gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It is the blockbuster that changes the game. It is the catalyst of our conversion - the agent of our transformation. It shifts the paradigm. Forgiveness overwhelms us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) .

Humanity is capable of producing miracles

The miracle of forgiveness that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection was not fueled by divinity. It was fueled by humanity. Jesus's flesh and blood were the fuel for the miracle. His flesh and blood summoned the miracle of forgiveness into existence as we tortured and killed the God who loves us and made him suffer and die. Our evil + his flesh and blood = the miracle of forgiveness. All of the elements of the equation are human not divine. Jesus showed us our potential on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Humanity is capable of producing miracles.

The Teacher

The lopsided transaction that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection bumped up our understanding of God from coach to first class - from a low fidelity understanding of God to a high fidelity understanding of God - from a poor approximation of God to the best approximation of God. The lopsided transaction was so important that God marked its location with a conspicuous landmark. The landmark is the Cross of Christ. Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt. The Cross of Christ marks the spot of the treasure (1 Corinthians 1:17) . Grab your shovel. Dig up the treasure of Christianity (Matthew 13:44) . Make yourself rich. Rally 'round the Cross! The lopsided transaction is the teacher who carries the answer to the question, 'Who is God?' to the children of Adam and Eve in the Valley of Tears. The answer was encoded into the flesh and blood of Jesus. It waited in his flesh and blood for the foul touch of our evil to release it (Luke 22:42) . The answer was locked and loaded. Jesus released the answer into the Valley of Tears when we tortured and killed him - when we made him suffer and die - when we impaled him on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. The brutal evil that we did to Jesus on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection squeezed the answer out of him. Our evil pressed it to emerge from his flesh and blood. Surprisingly, Jesus did not answer the evil that we did to him in kind. He did not give us a taste of our own medicine. He did not require "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) (Matthew 5: 38-48) . Jesus changed the tone of the transaction. He made it asymmetric - lopsided. His answer to the brutal evil that we did to him was a gentle answer. He forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . Forgiveness was the path that Jesus blazed for us to follow him into the inner workings of the mind of God (Isaiah 55:8-9) (1 Corinthians 2:9) . Forgiveness can only exist in the context of evil. No flesh and blood; no possibility of brutal evil; no upgrade in our understanding of God.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) (John 12:24) . How great is the love of a Creator who lays down his life for his creatures?

The Knowledge of God is the Grand Marshall of the Parade of Salvation

You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, ... (John 4:22) . Do we know whom we worship? Today, the knowledge of God and our worship of him are divorced. There is a disconnect - an abyss between the two. Our clerics encourage the worship of God but do not dispense the knowledge of God. They are too busy doing other things. Worship, however, is the fruit of the knowledge of God. The decline in worship is the byproduct of the decline in the knowledge of God. The clerics who hold the opinion that we derive the knowledge of God as we worship him through a mysterious osmotic process are mistaken. Osmosis does not work. The blockbuster of a story that Jesus showed us on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection does not get transmitted to us through osmosis. The story must be told to us in words - in complete sentences. The knowledge of God comes first. It is the grand marshall of the parade that takes us through the Valley of Tears, over the Red Sea of death, across the finish line and into the promised land. Worship follows the grand marshall. It does not precede it. So, too, does obedience to the Church's byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole.

The Sweet Kiss of Forgiveness

On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus planted the sweet kiss of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) on the cheeks of the hostile creatures who tortured and killed him - who made him suffer and die. He greeted our hostility with kindness. The odd couple of epiphany, brutal evil and sweet forgiveness, consumated their marriage on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Mark 10:9) .

The Victory

The victory that Jesus won was won on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. There Jesus fended off the serpent who, using us as his proxies, tried, but failed, to drain his most Sacred Heart of his love for us. Despite the brutal evil that we did to him, Jesus clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. Buckets of blood spilled through the wounds that our evil opened in his flesh. But not a drop - not a drop - of his love for us followed his blood through the wounds. His most Sacred Heart stayed filled to the brim with love for us.

The Dial

Have you discovered the dial that controls his love for us? It is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it.

Jesus launched the Revolution in our understanding of God

Jesus launched the revolution in our understanding of God (Viva La Revolution) . How? He transubstantiated his bloody wounds into the floodgates of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Malachi 3:10) . Through them, the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) poured into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. The blessed juxtaposition of sweet forgiveness and brutal evil gives us the ultimate and most apocalyptic revelation about the nature of God. The revolution that Jesus launched illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. To know forgiveness is to know love (Luke 6:43-45) . To know love is to know God (1 John 4:8) . To know God is to have eternal life (John 17:3) .

Jesus shifted the Paradigm - unilaterally, gratuitously and unconditionally

At the Last Supper, Jesus equalized his flesh and blood and our food and drink (Luke 22:19) (Luke 22:20) (John 6:31-59) . He put the equal sign between them. Out of love for us, he made the equation. In making the equation, Jesus shifted the paradigm (Wikipedia) . Jesus transubstantiated the taking of his flesh and blood into the serving of the bread and wine of forgiveness - that which was bad into that which is good - his bloody wounds into the floodgates of forgiveness - a sacrifice into a banquet - murderers into dinner companions - an ignoble defeat into a glorious victory - very bad news into the Good News of Great Joy - a low fidelity understanding of God into an upgraded, high fidelity understanding of God. The paradigm shift was unilateral, gratuitous and unconditional. The pyrotechnics of the parameter shift give Jesus his charisma and Christianity its magic. They illuminate the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. The equalization of his flesh and blood and our food and drink unequivocally demonstrated that the our God is head over heels in love with us (1 John 4:8) .

The new paradigm that Jesus announced at the Last Supper was put to the test for the first time in the real world in a lopsided transaction that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection.

We took from Jesus his flesh and blood even though his flesh and blood did not belong to us. In answer to the brutal evil that we did to him, Jesus served the bread and wine of forgiveness even though we did not deserve forgiveness.

The signal of the paradigm shift repeats itself whenever a Mass takes place as the bright beacon of a lighthouse repeats itself. It echoes from then and there, across space and time, to us here and now. The vehicle that carries the echo is the Mass. The Mass radiates the Good News of Great Joy that Jesus originally released into the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Yet, despite the brutal evil that we did to him, Jesus forgave us (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) .

Preservation and Propagation

Jesus was the first drop (1 John 4:19) in the process of "[f]ill[ing] the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . Our job is to turn the drop into a flood. Our job is to preserve the miracle of forgiveness that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection and to propagate it from then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now (Mark 16:15) .

The Transformation of His Bloody Wounds

The brutal evil that we did to Jesus on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection opened bloody wounds in his body. His love for us transformed his bloody wounds into the floodgates of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Malachi 3:10) . Through them, the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness poured into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee.

The Interrogation

"Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?" We interrogated Jesus with lash, thorns, nails and cross on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. It was a brutal interrogation. We gave him the third degree (Wikipedia) . Our interrogation punctuated his flesh with bloody wounds. In response to our brutal interrogation, Jesus did not stand mute. He did not take the fifth (Wikipedia) . From the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) , Jesus's flesh and blood spoke to us. Jesus answered us through his bloody wounds. The evil that we did to Jesus opened the mouth of God. "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4) . By his bloody wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5) (1 Peter 2:24) . "For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding" (Proverbs 2:6) . In an extravagantly generous expression of his philanthropy, Jesus transubstantiated his bloody wounds into the floodgates of forgiveness (Malachi 3:10) . Through them, Jesus poured the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Through the mouth of God, we received a gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him. What was his gentle answer? Jesus forgave us for the brutal evil that we did to him (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . By forgiving us, Jesus upgraded our understanding of God.

Only love begets love. Jesus understood the chain of cause and effect. He knew the effect he wanted to produce and the cause that produces it. While we were still unrepentant (Matthew 22:10) sinners (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 7:6) , God loved us first (1 John 4:19) . Have you ever wondered why God loved us first (1 John 4:19) ? By loving us, God planted the seed of love in the soil of our hearts to fill them to the brim with love. The God who fashioned us out of the dust with his hands (Genesis 2:7) (Genesis 18:27) put himself into the hands of the dust to leaven (Galatians 5:9) the dust with the yeast of divinity. Love in the form of forgiveness for the evil that we did to Jesus is the yeast of divinity (Matthew 13:33) .

Feedback is the flint that sharpens the blade

Feedback is the flint that sharpens the blade. Because the Church is insensitive to feedback, it has become a dull blade. A dull blade does not cut. The Church does not know how to welcome or process feedback. It has no formal structures to accept and learn from feedback. None. The Church is not set up to listen. It has deaf ears. It props up its ideas with authority. It fears that its ideas cannot compete and survive in the marketplace of ideas. Yet, in modernity, the children of Adam and Eve hold the opinion that "Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of the truth" (Albert Einstein). In an age where the children of Adam and Eve read, write and think for themselves, the Church needs to adjust its behavior. In modernity, the Church needs to allow its ideas to be tested by feedback to prove their worth.

Jesus's Christianity was Confrontational in a well-defined, specific way

Is the Church's domestic and foreign policies the same or different? Why?

Domestic policy deals with the children of Adam and Eve who abide within its gates. Foreign policy deals with the foreigners - the evildoers, the godless, the disinterested - who abide outside its gates.

What is the Church's domestic policy? As a religious entity, it offers an array of sacraments to the children of Adam and Eve within its gates to carry God's grace to them. Moreover, as a temporal government, it offers the children of Adam and Eve who abide within its gates a byzantine and stultifying straight jacket of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole to rigidly bind their behavior. The goal of its domestic policy is to stop the children of Adam and Eve within its gates from becoming evildoers - to keep our tendency to do evil in check. Homogeneity of behavior is the goal. Deviations from the codex are not tolerated. No one escapes the Church's straight jacket. The Church's domestic policy is akin to an industrial bakery designed to mass produce millions of standardized and tasteless loaves of white bread. Moreover, frustrated by the lack of police powers within its gates and to further its domestic policy, the Church devised various psychological weapons - lethal and non-lethal - to terrorize the children of Adam and Eve - to keep us in line. The religious authorities beat us over the head with the billy club of sin until our souls are black, blue, battered, bruised and bleeding. They beat the crap out of our souls. They resort to this psychological violence in a misguided effort to protect their franchise.

But, what is the Church's foreign policy? What is the Church's policy with regard to the foreigners - the evildoers, the godless, the disinterested - who abide outside its gates? Does it even have a foreign policy? Only by contemplating the Church's foreign policy can we understand the defects in its domestic policy.

What good are the Church's sacraments to foreigners who do not participate in them? What good is the Church's byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole to foreigners who are disinterested in them?

A related question is how does the Church stem the defections of the children of Adam and Eve from inside to ouside its gates? The Church is hemorrhaging the children of Adam and Eve. The thermometer that gauges the temperature of the body of Christ is the practice of Christianity. By this measure, the patient is moribund - a few breaths away from death. What is the Church doing wrong? What do we do to resuscitate Christianity? How do we revive it?

Unlike the Church, Jesus did not have separate domestic and foreign policies. Jesus had only one policy regardless of the side of the gate on which we sat.

For Jesus, Christianity was confrontational. Moreover, Jesus confronted evildoers in a very specific, well-defined way.

Evil was driven out of heaven and precipitously cast down into the Valley of Tears (Revelation 12:7-12) (Luke 10:18) (Isaiah 14:12-16). Evil was evicted but not defeated. The war against evil was incomplete. Only the venue had changed from up there to down here. In bringing the war against evil from heaven to earth, Jesus confronted evildoers. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus showed us an energetic God at work in the Valley of Tears fighting his enemies in the war against evil. Jesus gave us the crucial insight into how Christianity is supposed to work by the weapon that he used in his confrontation with evil. Jesus confronted evildoers with love (Matthew 5:38-39) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . What human general would dare to go into battle with evil armed with no weapon but love (Isaiah 55:8-9) ? Jesus's strategy in the war against evil was to defeat evil with love. Love is toxic to evil. The seeds of evil do not grow in the soil of love. Love extinguishes evil as water extinguishes fire. The contagion of evil is contained when we build firewalls of love! Therefore, on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus threw the monkey wrench of love into the cycle of evil to break it and to bring it to a screeching halt.

Furthermore, love begets love. "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19) . From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love. The transfusion of love is invigorating. It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) . Love depetrifies hearts of stone and transforms them into hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) (Luke 17:20-21) . By continuing to love us even though we tortured and killed him - by forgiving us even though we did not deserve forgiveness (Luke 23:34) , Jesus planted the seeds of love in the soil of our hearts. The seeds of love turn into trees of love. The trees of love bear fruit "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . The trees of love form the gardens of the new Eden in the Valley of Tears. Under their canopy, the children of Adam and Eve dwell in happiness.

Confrontational Christianity is Christianity done right. It confronts us with the reality of God's love for us. Confrontational Christianity challenges us to come to grips with the fact that our God is head over heals in love with us. It rubs our noses into this truth. It sticks this fact in our faces. It pokes us in the eye with it. It whacks us over the head with it. The blow gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It is the blockbuster that changes the game. It is the catalyst of our conversion - the agent of our transformation.

Jesus brought the war against evil to the Valley of Tears. He was the tip of the spear poisoned with the intoxicating venom of love. Jesus initiated the process of inundating the Valley of Tears with love (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . However, he did not complete it. Jesus was the first drop (1 John 4:19) . Our job is to turn the drop into a flood. Our job, like Jesus's, is to pour the sweet syrup of love into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee.

The magic of Christianity is God's love for us. The Church's domestic policy, however, has bastardized Christianity by pursuing a domestic policy at odds with the policy of Jesus and the magic of Christianity. It does not conform to the policy of Jesus. The Church underestimates God's love for us (1 Corinthians 13) . The Church is squeezing the magic of God's love for us out of Christianity. The Church has downgraded, trivialized, marginalized, peripheralized, sterlized and homogenized the astonishing magic of Christianity into a cold, bland, dispassionate, rational, byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Run from the codifiers. Run from their cold, dead hearts (Ezekiel 36:26) . Run fast and run far. They do not understand magic. They do not believe in miracles. They do not have a childlike sense of wonder (Matthew 18:2-4) . They do not understand that God's love for us is the magic of Christianity.

The Church is no longer confrontaional in the way that Jesus was confrontational. It no longer is the warrior who confronts evildoers with love. The Church has turned inward. It has become insular. Its focus has shifted to the children of Adam and Eve within its gates. Intead of a warrior waging war against the evildoers inside and outside its gates wielding the weapon of love, it has become a housekeeper (John 14:2) who engages in housekeeping for the house within its gates. It has exchanged love for a dustmop. The insular Church eschews waging war against the evildoers with love. The insular Church declines to adopt the policy of Jesus. The Church is now content to just preach to the choir - to administer a bastardized Christianity that limits itself to the children of Adam and Eve within its gates. Insularity, however, will not win the war against evil. Christianity must become confrontational again. A confrontational Church confronts evil with love. It is time to return the policy of the Church to the policy of Jesus. It is time to make the children of Adam and Eve lovers. Only love begets love.

Confrontational Christianity, however, is not easy. Love is not free. It requires the payment of a cost - a cost that is often exorbitant in terms of flesh and blood. The payment of our limited human resources is contrary to our instinct for self-preservation - our instinct to conserve and to accumulate limited human resources. Yet, to show us forgiveness, Jesus denied himself (Matthew 16:24-26) and spent all of his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. He kept not a penny for himself. He has never spent more on anything else. The size of his payment is evidence of the size of his love for us. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) (John 12:24) . How great is the love of a Creator who lays down his life for his creatures?

Our Baptism in the Valley of Tears

The Valley of Tears is the vessel in which we are baptized. Crucifixion precedes Resurrection. Baptism precedes rebirth. We are first baptized in the Valley of Tears before we are born again into the Kingdom of God.

The Valley of Tears (Hail Holy Queen) is the vessel that holds the ruins of Paradise. We live like the most miserable and hideous of loveless beast scavenging in poverty among the ruins. The Valley of Tears is as foul as Eden was fair - as hostile as Eden was hospitable. As we pass through the Valley of Tears, we eat the bread of adversity and drink the water of affliction (Isaiah 30:20-22) . The rod is not spared on the children of Adam and Eve in the Valley of Tears. Spare the rod and spoil the children (Proverbs 13:24) (Hebrews 12:5-11) .

The Valley of Tears is the context of our existence.

We are making our escape through our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears, across the Red Sea of death, which is the worst and the last of our crosses (1 Corinthians 15:26) and into the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27) . Our journey is a journey through hostile territory. Many and merciless are the crosses that besiege us as we make our escape. In hot pursuit behind us is the new Pharaoh at the head of an army of hostile crosses. It is the hammer. The hammer is driving us through the Valley of Tears. In front of us blocking our way is the anvil. The anvil is the Red Sea of Death. The Red Sea of Death stands between us and the promised land, the land of milk and honey. Without a miracle, our destiny is to be crushed between the hammer and anvil. Without a Savior, we are doomed. (SS)

Jesus neutralized the anti-God propaganda that our crosses broadcast into every nook and cranny of the Valley of Tears

Our brutal baptism in the Valley of Tears generates doubt about God. As the teeth of our crosses chew us up into bits and pieces, it is hard to believe our almighty God loves us. Furthermore, the tongues of our crosses are as sharp as their teeth. The tongues of our crosses broadcast powerful anti-god propaganda into every nook and cranny of the Valley of Tears. “Where is your savior now?”, they taunt us as their teeth mercilessly masticate us into bits and pieces. “Despair! Abandon hope! You are alone and forsaken. Nobody is coming to rescue you” (Matthew 27:42 - 46) . The tongues of our crosses take us to the edge of despair. The argument that our crosses make is a very powerful anti-god argument.

How did Jesus neutralize the anti-God propaganda that our crosses broadcast to us?

To neutralize the serpent’s anti-God propaganda, Jesus commandeered a cross - the instrument of our woe - and re-purposed it to offer us the counter-argument. Our crosses testify to a loveless God. His Cross testifies to a loving God. He forgave us for the evil that we did to him (Luke 23:34) . Isn't forgiveness one of the sweet fruits of love? Isn't a tree known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45) ? Doesn't the fruit of the tree tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8) ?

We live in a world where the evidence conflicts

As the teeth of our crosses chew us up into bits and pieces, it is hard to believe our almighty God loves us. Furthermore, the tongues of our crosses are as sharp as their teeth. The tongues of our crosses broadcast powerful anti-god propaganda into every nook and cranny of the Valley of Tears. “Where is your savior now?”, they taunt us as their teeth mercilessly masticate us into bits and pieces. “Despair! Abandon hope! You are alone and forsaken. Nobody is coming to rescue you” (Matthew 27:42 - 46) . The tongues of our crosses take us to the edge of despair. The argument our crosses make is a very powerful anti-god argument.

How did Jesus neutralize the anti-God propaganda that our crosses broadcast to us?

Jesus presented the counter-argument.

To neutralize the serpent’s anti-God propaganda, Jesus commandeered a cross - the instrument of our woe - and re-purposed it to offer us the counter-argument. Our crosses testify to a loveless God. His Cross testifies to a loving God. He forgave us for the evil that we did to him (Luke 23:34) . Isn't forgiveness one of the sweet fruits of love? Isn't a tree known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45) ? Doesn't the fruit of the tree tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8) ?

We are at a standoff. We live in a world where the evidence conflicts. How do we resolve the conflict in the evidence? What breaks the tie? As Adam and Eve did, we conduct our own investigation. Like Jacob, we wrestle with God in an attempt to reconcile the conflicting evidence. We solve the problem of evil. We figure out the truth for ourselves.

Passing through the forest of crosses that makes war against us in the Valley of Tears

Our predicament in the Valley of Tear is dire. In the Valley of Tears, we pass through a forest of hostile crosses as we make our escape to the Red Sea of death, over the finish line and into the promised land. The teeth of our crosses chew us up into bits and pieces. Their tongues are as sharp as their teeth. They broadcast virulent anti-god propaganda into every nook and cranny of the Valley of Tears. “Where is your savior now?”, the tongues of our crosses taunt us as their teeth mercilessly masticate us into bits and pieces. “Despair! Abandon hope! You are alone and forsaken. Nobody is coming to rescue you” (Matthew 27:42 - 46) . The tongues of our crosses take us to the edge of despair. There is no way around the forest of crosses. It cannot be avoided. The only way is through it. Jesus paid us a visit to show us the best way through the forest of crosses that makes war against us in the Valley of Tears. He blazed a trail through it for us. He invites us to follow him through the Valley of Tears on the trail that he blazed. The trail that Jesus blazed through the Valley of Tears is the path of least resistance. God did not pitch his tent among us to aggravate our dire predicament amongst the terrible crosses of the Valley of Tears. He pitched his tent among us to mitigate our dire predicament. He did not come to add to our crosses. The Valley of Tears has more than enough crosses to go around. Jesus came to make our passage through the forest of crosses easier not harder (Matthew 11:28-30) . Do not confuse Jesus with the devil. The devil has a much different agenda than Jesus. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus poured, through his bloody wounds, the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Hitch your wagon to the God who loves us even though we tortured and killed him - even though we made him suffer and die. His love for us is real. Reality is reliable. We can depend on the reality of his love for us. His love for us is trustworthy. His love for us is the rock on which the wise build their lives (Matthew 7:24-27) . Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid (Psalm 27) ? Will our almighty lover ever let us down? Will he ever betray us? Will he ever disappoint (Romans 8:31) ? Make no mistake, however. Jesus did not come to evacuate us from the forest of crosses of the Valley of Tears. Nor was his purpose to turn the Valley of Tears into a better, more hospitable place for godless people to live. God wants to turn godless people into people of God. To do this, we must pass through the forest of crosses. There is a right way to pass through them and many wrong ways. To neutralize the evil of our crosses, we must discover the power of love. Unless we undergo a baptism by fire, we will never learn to love. Love is in our self-interest. Love is the cushion - the firewall - that insulates us from the teeth and tongues of our crosses.

P.S. Our close encounters with the forest of crosses that makes war against us in the Valley of Tears benefit us in additional ways. We learn elsewhere that the experience defangs the serpent - it drains from the serpent's great lie its power to decieve. Furthermore, in addition to forcing us to learn to love, suffering is the glue that binds us the gift of paradise. When the gift of paradise is delivered to us - and it is in the pipeline on its way - we will keep it. We will not fumble the ball as Lucifer did, as the gaggle of angels who follow Lucifer did, as Eve did and as Adam did. The prodigal son will never go back to the pig sty; neither will we.

War

Evil was driven out of heaven and precipitously cast down into the Valley of Tears (Revelation 12:7-12) (Luke 10:18) (Isaiah 14:12-16). Evil was evicted but not defeated. The war against evil was incomplete. Only the venue had changed from up there to down here. The serpent and his minions employ a fierce phalanx of hostile crosses as their proxies to wage unrelenting war against us - "day and night" (Revelation 12:7-12) (Luke 10:18) - as we make our escape through the Valley of Tears, over the Red Sea of death, across the finish line, and into the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27) . As we make our escape, we eat the bread of adversity and drink the water of affliction (Isaiah 30:20-22) . The rod is not spared on the children of Adam and Eve in the Valley of Tears. Spare the rod and spoil the children (Proverbs 13:24) (Hebrews 12:5-11) . In the Valley of Tears, we put our fingers into the flames to learn for ourselves that the fire is hot. Intimate contact with the truth itself packs the strongest persuasive punch. It gives our rationality a powerful wallop. The evil that afflicts us in the Valley of Tears teaches us that a life lived without God is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" (Thomas Hobbes).

Mislocation of the battlefield where the war against evil is being fought

The enemy is not within us. The threat is external not internal. The evil is transactional not intrinsic, real not invented. As we make our escape through the Valley of Tears, over the Red Sea of death, across the finish line and into the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27) , a fierce phalanx of hostile crosses besieges us. The teeth of the hostile crosses chew us up into bits and pieces. Their tongues are as sharp as their teeth. They fill every nook and cranney of the Valley of Tears with virulent anti-god propaganda. What, exactly is the anti-god propaganda? As the teeth and tongues of our crosses masticate us, it is hard to believe that our God exists and loves us. Our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears is at odds and marerially deviates with the notion of a loving God. Our circumstances and a loving God are incompatible. The teeth and tongues of our crosses take us to the edge of despair. The argument that our crosses make is a very powerful anti-god argument. Too many, however, mislocate the battlefield where the fight against evil is taking place. They confuse the weapon needed to fight the battle with the battlefield. Indeed, the weapon with which we wage war against evil is within us. Internally, we prepare for battle with evil by filling our hearts to the brim with love. Love in its many forms is the weapon that Christians use to wage war. Hearts filled to the brim with love bring forth sweet fruit "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . From our reservoirs of love, we fill the Valley of Tears as Jesus did with the sweet syrup of love to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Jesus brought the war against evil to the Valley of Tears. He was the tip of the spear. Jesus initiated the process of inundating the Valley of Tears with love (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . Jesus was the first drop (1 John 4:19) . Our job is to turn the drop into a flood. Sure, filling our hearts to the brim with love can be a struggle. But, the real battle - the scrum at the line of scrimmage - is against external enemies.

The Demonstration of God

Jesus did not just give us a declaration about God. He gave us a demonstration of God. The demonstration of God was done on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. In the demonstration, we took from Jesus his flesh and blood even though his flesh and blood did not belong to us. Jesus forgave us even though we did not deserve forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) .

Jesus threw the holy pearls of love in the form of forgiveness to us while we were still dogs and swine (Matthew 7:6) (Romans 5:8) . His purpose was to elevate us from the level of the most miserable and hideous of loveless beasts to the level of our loving God. Only love begets love. "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19) .

Only the Audacity of God is rescuing us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears

What begets our confidence in Jesus? What generates our trust in him? In his gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to Jesus, we discover that Jesus is our friend not our foe. He is with us not against us. He is on our side not on the opposing side. The gentleness of his answer begets our confidence in Jesus. It is the most powerful force on earth. It gives Christianity its magic and Jesus his charisma. Its powerful gravity pulls us into centripetal orbit around him. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. In his gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him, Jesus unilaterally, gratuitously and unconditionally gave us the precious gift of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) . He gave us a full pardon. We took from him his flesh and blood even though his flesh and blood did not belong to us. He forgave us even though we did not deserve forgiveness. Jesus put an equal sign between his flesh and blood and our food and drink. In making the equation, Jesus transformed that which was bad into that which is good - - a sacrifice into a banquet - flesh and blood into food and drink - murderers into dinner companions - an ignoble defeat into a glorious victory. Jesus took the first step in the hope that we would take the second. While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . He did not wait for our conversion before he forgave us (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 22:10) (Matthew 7:6) (John 8:10 -11) . He forgave us to bring about our conversion. How audacious is the God who loves us! Boldly, he went out on a limb for us. Audacity is the hallmark of our God. Blessed is the audacity of our God. Is any other god as audacious as the Christian God? Like Moses, let us turn aside and see this great sight (Exodus 3:1-3) . We burnt the bush but the bush was not consumed (Exodus 3:1-3) . Ordinarily, fire begets fire. But, not so with the God who loves us - not so. In the midst of the fire, Jesus clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. Real love does not burn. Real love survives the conflagration. Rejoice and be glad!

What was Jesus's gentle answer to the brutal that we did to him on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection? Our loving God forgave us our iniquity and remembered our sin no more (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and locked in place (Jeremiah 31:3) . Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it (Lamentations 3:22) . Our understanding of divinity as power is incomplete - flawed. Divinity is also love - a mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn love (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) . His friendship is real. Only reality is reliable. We can depend on the reality of his friendship. HIS FRIENDSHIP IS THE ROCK ON WHICH THE WISE BUILD THEIR LIVES (Matthew 7:24-27). Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid (Psalm 27)? Will our almighty friend ever let us down? Will he ever betray us? Will he ever disappoint (Romans 8:31) ? What a wonderful God is our God! What a delight!

Isn't it time for you to discover the extravagant philanthropy of our loving God who forgave us our iniquity and remembered our sin no more (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) ?

Saving our understanding of God and hence, us, from destruction

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge", God lamented (Hosea 4:6) . Since Eden, our understanding of God had faded from the face of the Earth (Hosea 4:6) (John 10:5) (Psalm 69:8) (Exodus 2:22) . The answer to the question, 'Who is God?' teetered on the brink of extinction. The answer clung to life only among a small, wandering tribe of desert nomads known as the Jews. God had stashed the answer with them for safekeeping. They were its guardians. God had appointed them as the trustees of our understanding of God in the Valley of Tears. They were the pilot light that kept the flame of understanding burning for God's future use (Isaiah 11:1) . In order to prevent our destruction, Jesus published the story of God in the Valley of Tears. With the publication of the story of God, Jesus initiated the process of inundating "the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . Jesus was the first drop (1 John 4:19) . Our job is to turn the drop into a flood. It is ironic but the Word of God (John 1:1) was not an author. He was a carpenter (Mark 6:3) . The Word of God (John 1:1) didn't tell us about God with words. He showed us God. The carpenter (Mark 6:3) built the story of God into the very fabric of reality by means of his flesh and blood. His flesh and blood were the vehicles that Jesus used to carry the story of God from its beginning, through its middle, to its end. His flesh and blood were the engines that drove the story of God through the Valley of Tears, over the Red Sea of death, across the finish line, and into the promised land. Each chapter in the story of God involves his flesh and blood. Everything else that took place in the life of Jesus not involving his flesh and blood is obiter dicta. In the Incarnation, the Son of God doffed his invincible armor of divinity and donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood. At the Last Supper, Jesus put an equal sign between his flesh and blood and our food and drink. He made the equation. By making the equation, Jesus shifted the paradigm (Wikipedia) . Jesus transubstantiated the taking of his flesh and blood into the serving of the bread and wine of forgiveness - that which was bad into that which is good - a sacrifice into a banquet - murderers into dinner companions - an ignoble defeat into a glorious victory - very bad news into the Good News of Great Joy. During the Crucifixion, we brutally consumed his flesh and blood even though his flesh and blood did not belong to us. In the Resurrection, Jesus resurrected our understanding of God from the dead. He gave us his gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to his flesh and blood. He forgave us (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Matthew 26:28) even though we did not deserve forgiveness. At Mass, Jesus himself serves us the bread and wine of forgiveness despite our brutal misappropriation of his flesh and blood in the Crucifixion. The story of his flesh and blood that Jesus told in the Valley of Tears illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. It is Jesus's greatest parable. Furthermore, it ends happily for the children of Adam and Eve. At the end of the story of God, we receive from him the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness. Via the unilateral, gratuitous and unconditional gift of forgiveness, Jesus filled us with the knowledge of God as water fills an empty jug. "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . Gentle forgiveness from our God in answer to the brutal evil that we did to his dearly beloved Son's flesh and blood is the knowledge of God that Jesus published in the Valley of Tears. That our God forgave us our iniquity, and remembered our sin no more (Jeremiah 31:31-34) , is the Good News of Great Joy. The Good News of Great Joy is propagated from then and there, across space and time, to us here and now whenever a Mass is said. The Good News of Great Joy increaseth our joy and gives us great gladness (Psalm 4:7) (Isaiah 9:2-4) .

Note: Beware anyone who tries to dilute God's love for us with various caveats and conditions. Beware anyone who tries to water it down. The gravity of the Son of God's gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him is the strongest force on earth. It gives Christianity its magic and Jesus his charisma. The gravity of his gentle answer pulls us into a centripetal orbit around him. Beware anyone who tries to squeeze the magic out of Christianity or the charisma out of Jesus. Run from them. Run fast and run far.

God is the artist who paints the Masterpiece of Reality on the Canvas of our Rationality in the Pigments of Truth . “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32) . God is rescuing us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears by putting us in intimate contact with the truth. Like the pork in a Chinese restaurant, the truth comes in two flavors: sweet and sour. The sweet and sour truth are the engines that generate the current of salvation. The current of salvation sweeps us off our feet and carries us to our salvation. Very few swim against the tide.

What are you doing to bring our understanding of God into conformity with the nature of God? What are you doing to bring our behavior into conformity with the Church's byzantine rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole? Two different endeavors. Which deserves the greater allocation of our limited resources? Some clerics prefer to pitch their tent in the stultifying swamp of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Others prefer to dwell in the green meadow of bringing our understanding of God closer to the nature of God. Which is your preference?

As our understanding of God catches up to the nature of God, good things start to happen (Matthew 6:30-33) . Although misery is the glue that binds us to the gift of paradise, glue is no longer needed when we are running after the sweetness of paradise. And our God is a philanthropist not a sadist.

The presence of God is an empty jug devoid of content. It is a mysterious cipher, opaque, inscrutable and indecipherable. It is neither hot nor cold, neither sweet nor sour (Revelation 3:15-16) (Matthew 5:13) . The presence of God is insipid. It has no intrinsic flavor. It is a neutral variable that holds flavor - a blank host that needs seasoning. The presence of God takes on its flavor when the story of God is added to it. Gentle forgiveness for the brutal evil that we did to Jesus's flesh and blood is the story of God that Jesus published in the Valley of Tears. To celebrate the mere presence of God is to celebrate the King without clothes (The Emperor Has No Clothes, Hans Christian Andersen (1837)) . Such a celebration is unseemly. The king deserves to be dressed in the clothes that he designed and made. Reserve your celebration for the well-dressed king.

Jesus leveraged our understanding of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Matthew 26:28) into an understanding of God.

Jesus blazed a trail for us into the mind of God through the "narrow gate" of gentle forgiveness (Matthew 7:13-14) . His life did not belong to us, yet, we took it. We did not deserve forgiveness, yet, he gave it to us (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Matthew 26:28) . Harden not your hearts (Hebrews 3:14-16) . Depetrify your loveless hearts (Ezekiel 36:26) so you can squeeze through the "narrow gate" of gentle forgiveness (Matthew 7:13-14) . Wide is the gate and easy is the way to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14) .

Gentle forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Matthew 26:28) for the brutal evil that we did to Jesus is the knowledge of God that Jesus published in the Valley of Tears. It is the Good News of Great Joy. The Good News of Great Joy increaseth our joy and gives us great gladness (Psalm 4:7) (Isaiah 9:2-4) .

The substrate that supports the ecosystem of Christianity is not the Church's byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. It stultifies. The byzantine codex drains us of our enthusiasm for God. The substrate that supports the ecosystem of Christianity is the dynamic that moves our understanding of God closer to the nature of God. That dynamic is the story of Jesus's flesh and blood. Jesus's flesh and blood moves the story of God from its beginning, through its middle to its end. Each chapter of the story of God involves Jesus's flesh and blood. The story is what inspires us to pursue God. The story is the ingredient that makes God sweet. The sweetness of God is the honey that lures the bees back to the hive.

Some clerics pitch their tent in the swamp of the Church's rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. They are pejoratively called culture warriors. No matter how stultifying is their strident nagging, they insist on compliance and object to non-compliance to the Church's byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. However, they do not define the pathway that brings about compliance. They do not teach the children of Adam and Eve how to do it. They think, like the courtiers of King Canute (Luke 23:34) , that they can stop the tide by merely snapping their fingers and pointing to the applicable rule, regulation, red tape or rigmarole. Their life in the swamp distorts Christianity. It reduces Christianity from a love story to a petty parlor game where the person with the highest score is declared the winner. The greater is the compliance, the greater is a person's saintly holiness, they claim. Other clerics prefer to dwell in the green meadow of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Matthew 26:28) where Jesus upgraded our understanding of God by means of the sacrifice of his flesh and blood to the brutal evil that we did to him. As the gap between our understanding of God and the nature of God narrows, our practice of life grows richer. We bear fruit "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . When the gap closes, a circuit is established between us and God. Our understanding of God is perfected. The connection transforms us. We willingly take the reins of morality into our hands, the bit of morality into our mouths and the bridle of morality onto our heads. We no longer see morality as a stright jacket that confines us but as a crown of glory that sets us free. When our understanding of God equals the nature of God, the sweet fruit that we produce as we proceed through life (Matthew 13:8) grows exponentially. We join the army that Jesus is recruiting that resists evil with love.

A properly formed understanding of God is the foundation of Christianity. Upon it, the edifice of Christianity is built. Jesus enshrined his gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him to the position of prominence in the showcase of Christianity. Our job is to propagate it from then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now. We must shift our resources into making the Christian understanding of God known in the Valley of Tears. Jesus initiated the process by revealing God to us by means of his flesh and blood. We must continue it.

Note: An understanding of God and an understanding of the Church's byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole are not the same. They are two different things. Learn the distinction. The greater is the emphasis on the Church's byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole, the greater is our stultification. The greater is the emphasis on Jesus' forgiveness for the brutal evil that we did to his flesh and blood, the greater is our enthusiasm. Only an understanding of God begets pursuit. An understanding of the Church's byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole begets stultification. Our pursuit of God is directly proportional to our understanding of God. A low fidelity understanding of God begets a low octane pursuit of him. A high fidelity understanding of God begets a high octane pursuit of him. No understanding = no pursuit. Moreover, only during our pursuit of God are we transformed. We do not transform ourselves. The Church does not transform us. Only God transforms us and he does so only as we pursue him. The Church goes off the rails when it tries to do God's job. A word to the wise is sufficient.

The story of the storyteller, not the presence of the storyteller, is the significant aspect of the Mass

Jesus is the storyteller-in-chief (John 1:1) . He communicated with us in stories. He told us stories through the miracles that he did and the parables that he told. What is the purpose of the Mass? The purpose of the Mass is to communicate to us Jesus's most important story. In it, Jesus revealed God to us. It reached its climax on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we took from the God who loves us his flesh and blood even though his flesh and blood did not belong to us. We tortured and killed him. We made him suffer and die. We baptized him in a crucible of torture, suffering and death. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. The revelation began with the evil that we did to him . However, it was not completed here. The revelation was completed when Jesus gave us his answer to the evil that we did to him. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, a violent collision took place between Jesus and the evil that we did to him. The byproduct of the violent collision revealed God to us. Forgiveness was the sweet byproduct of the violent collision. He forgave us for the evil that we did to him even though we did not deserve forgiveness. Through his flesh and blood, Jesus showed God to us. Jesus transformed his flesh and blood into our food and drink. He put an equal sign between them. In so doing, he transformed the rabble and its ringleaders into his dinner companions. The Mass transports the original story of God from its depository then and there, through space and time, to us here and now. The Mass is the echo of the original story - the bloodless sacrifice based on the bloody sacrice The Mass is not important because Jesus is really present in the most Holy Eucharist. Indeed, he is really present. However, the Mass is important because it preserves and propagates the unique story that reached its climax on the road from the Curcifixion to the Resurrection that Jesus used as the vehicle to reveal God to us. The story of the storyteller, not his presence, makes the Mass important. For some strange and inexplicable reason, clerics separate the story from the storyteller, ignore it, and, instead, emphasize the presence of the storyteller. In this way, they cut God's tongue out of his mouth. They make God mute. The presence of the storyteller does not communicate anything to us. Only the story of the storyteller communicates to us. The presence of the storyteller is incidental to the story. Beware the Christian, especially the Christian cleric, who knows the presence of God but not the story of God. Beware him who has separated the storyteller and his story. A singer is known by his song, an artist is known by his art, a tree is known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45) and the storyteller by his story (not his presence). The story of the storyteller, not the presence of the storyteller, is the powerful truth that transforms us from godless people into people of God. The charisma of God is his story not his presence. Don't get hung up on his presence. Don't let the presence of God interfere with his story - the story that reached its climax on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The story, not the presence (Osmosis doesn't work), perfects our understanding of God.

The Significant Chapters in the story of God

Jesus published the story of God when he pitched his tent with us in the Valley of Tears. The vehicle that carried the story from its beginning, through its middle, to its end was Jesus's flesh and blood. Here are the significant chapters.

1) The Incarnation. The Incarnation commenced the story of God that Jesus told in the Valley of Tears. Jesus doffed his invincible armor of divinity and donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood. He made himself weak. He enfeebled himself. He clipped his own wings. The lion became the lamb. The Son of God become one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. To bring the war against evil to the Valley of tears, Jesus disarmed. What human general would disarm on the brink of battle? The defortification of the Son of God, also known as the Incarnation, was a most unusual tactic. Unexpected. Surprising. Unorthodox. Counterintuitive (Isaiah 55:8-9) . Disarmament on the brink of his battle with evil gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . We are bewildered. How can an infant born in a manger (Luke 2:1-20) ransom captive Israel (O Come, O Come, Emmanuel)? What can a frail human baby accomplish? What was our God thinking (Isaiah 55:8-9) ? Where is the powerful God who smote the Egyptians? What role can flesh and blood possibly play in our salvation? How can ordinary flesh and blood resist evil?

2) The Last Supper. At the Last Supper, Jesus equalized his flesh and blood and our food and drink (Luke 22:19) (Luke 22:20) (John 6:31-59) . He put the equal sign between them. Out of love for us, he made the equation. In making the equation, Jesus shifted the paradigm (Wikipedia) . Jesus transformed that which was bad into that which is good - a sacrifice into a banquet - murderers into dinner companions - an ignoble defeat into a glorious victory - very bad news for Jesus and humanity into the Good News of Great Joy. The paradigm shift was unilateral, gratuitous and unconditional. The pyrotechnics of the parameter shift give Jesus his charisma and Christianity its magic. They illuminate the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. The equalization of his flesh and blood and our food and drink unequivocally demonstrated that the our God is head over heels in love with us (1 John 4:8) .

3) The Crucifixion. We consumed his flesh and blood on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. We took from Jesus his flesh and blood even though his flesh and blood did not belong to us. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. "Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?" We interrogated Jesus with lash, thorns, nails and cross on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. It was a brutal interrogation. We gave him the third degree (Wikipedia) .

4) The Resurrection. In response to our brutal interrogation, Jesus did not stand mute. His tongue did not become tied. He did not take the fifth (Wikipedia) . The evil that we did to Jesus opened bloody wounds in his body. Jesus transubstantiated his bloody wounds into the floodgates of forgiveness. Through them, the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness boldly poured into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cupo of bad coffee. In the climax to the story of God, Jesus resurrected our understanding of God from the dead. He gave us his gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him. Despite the brutal evil that we did to him, Jesus forgave us (Luke 23:34) (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Matthew 26:28) . Jesus forgave us even though we did not deserve forgiveness. Forgiveness was the narrow path that Jesus blazed in the Valley of Tears that takes us into the mind of God. Jesus took the first step in the hope that we would take the second. While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . He did not wait for our conversion before he forgave us (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 22:10) (Matthew 7:6) (John 8:10 -11) . He forgave us to bring about our conversion. Forgiveness (Luke 23:34) is the bridge (John 14:6) that Jesus built to span the pit (Luke 16:26) that we dug in our relationship with our God. Paradise is found not at the bottom of the pit but at the far side of the bridge. Our job is to stop digging the pit and to start crossing the bridge. Repentance is the vehicle that transports us out of the pit and across the bridge. Forgiveness gave us a second chance, a do-over, an opportunity to repair our broken relationship with our God. How audacious is the God who loves us! Audacity is the hallmark of God!

Let us read and retell the story of God

We know that God has a presence. But, does God have a story in addition to his presence? Indeed, he does. So, why don't we read it and retell it? Why don't we read and retell the story of God? Why do we emphasize the presence of God and not the story of God? God is not a cipher. He is not a blank slate. He is more - much more - than a ghostly inscrutable presence that hovers mysteriously around us. Why don't we read the story about God and retell it?

A lack of curiosity in God causes the children of Adam and Eve to become sessile. Like trees, settlers have put down roots deep into the toxic soil of the Valley of Tears. They are content to stand still even though the Valley of Tears is hostile territory. In hostile territory, movement is necessary for survival. Settlers standing still in the Valley of Tears must become pilgrims passing through it. Run, settlers, run. Do not stand still. Run from holy place to holy place. [If the exigency is not felt, the Church is not doing its job (Matthew 3:7) .] Curiosity in God creates pilgrims who seek God. They make their escape through the Valley of Tears, over the Red Sea of death, across the finish line, and into the promised land.

Jump-starting our Curiosity in God

The Holy Spirit is tugging at our souls but only the curious are following the tug back to its source. Along the way, the curious are exploring the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God. What makes us curious about God? What tickles our interest in him? When we tortured and killed the God who loves us - when we made the God who loves us suffer and die - when we impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death - and the God who loves us gently "retaliated" against us by smiting us over the head and across the body with the sledgehammer of forgiveness, he jump-starts our curiosity in God. We exclaim, 'Wow!'. The greater was the evil that we did to the God who loves us, the more astonishing is his forgiveness of us (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) and the greater rages the bonfire of our curiousity in him. The God who loves us, by benevolent fiat, unilaterally, gratuitously and unconditionally placed an equal sign between his flesh and blood and our food and drink (Luke 22:19) (Luke 22:20) (John 6:31-59) . In making the equation, Jesus transformed that which was bad into that which is good - a sacrifice into a banquet - murderers into dinner companions - an ignoble defeat into a glorious victory - very bad news for Jesus and humanity into the Good News of Great Joy. The equalization of his flesh and blood and our food and drink unequivocally demonstrated that the our God is head over heels in love with us (1 John 4:8) . Jesus himself served the bread and wine of forgiveness (Luke 22:19) (Luke 22:20) (John 6:31-59) to the very sinners who brutally took his flesh and blood from him (Luke 23:34) . In doing so, he poured gasoline on the fire of our curiousity. The blow of forgiveness is CPR for our curiosity in God. The blow gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It raises our understanding of God from the dead (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) (Ephesians 5:14) . It launches us into the next stage: deciding on the best way to pursue him through the Valley of Tears, over the Red Sea of Death, across the finish line and into the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey. What is the best way to pursue our loving God? "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) . Understanding begets pursuit. Our pursuit of God is directly proportional to our understanding of God. A low fidelity understanding of God begets a low octane pursuit of him. A high fidelity understanding of God begets a high octane pursuit of him. No understanding = no pursuit.

Our Hero

God dispatched his dearly beloved Son, Jesus, to pursue evil from heaven to earth (Luke 2:1-20) in order to mitigate our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears. To rescue us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears, God could have dispatched a subordinate. He could have sent a flunky. But He did not. The job was so important that God did the job Himself (Matthew 21:33-40) .

Divinity cannot be tested; only humanity can. But our Creator wanted his creatures to test him so he could reveal himself to us in the results of the test. So God became man. The lion became the lamb. Our omnipotent God became weak to show us that our understanding of divinity as power is incomplete - flawed. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made him suffer and die. Yet, he did not stay dead and he did not stop loving us. He emerged from the dead still alive and still in love with us. That he emerged from the dead still alive revealed to us his power. Nobody emerges from the dead. He did. That he emerged from the dead still in love with us, however, revealed to us something more significant about divinity than power. Our understanding of divinity as power is incomplete - flawed. Divinity is also love - a mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn love (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) . The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and locked in place (Jeremiah 31:3) . Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it (Lamentations 3:22) .

“The ‘infirmity’ of Jesus,” the Pope said, “is a ‘teaching’ because “it reveals to us the love of God”. Christmas is the feast of Love incarnate where Jesus Christ is the light of mankind shining in the darkness, giving meaning to human existence and to the whole of history" (Vatican News, Audience of Pope Francis 12/23/2020) .

God was keen on revealing himself to us through the vehicle of forgiveness. While our God was dressed in his invincible armor of divinity, it was impossible for God to show us forgiveness for the brutal evil that we would do to him. Forgiveness is possible only in situations where evil can de done. The Son of God disarmed himself in order to arm us with the knowledge of God. "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) .

Chickenshit is neither needed nor desired in time of war

For the war against evil, God is recruiting heroes not scorekeepers. Heroes resist transactional evil with love in the scrum at the line of scrimmage. Scorekeepers keep score out of the fray from the safety of the sidelines. From the safety of the sidelines, scorekeepers lob advice and reccomendations at the heroes as a priest lobs homilies at us from the safety of an ambo. The Church thinks in terms of scorekeeping and list making. The Church wants us to be scorekeepers who keep accurate lists of our sins in both kind and number (Akin). To the Church, life is a round of golf at the end of which we hand in our scorecards to God for his final judgement. God, however, is not interested in the Church’s chickenshit (Chickenshit). He does not share the pathological obsession of the knuckleheads of Christianity with the red herrings of spit and polish (Matthew 23:27). God does not care whether our buttons are polished or our shoes are shined. God is too busy actively engaged waging war against evil to care about spit and polish. We are at war with evil - a real war against transactional evil not a phony, invented war against intrinsic evil. Beware the knuckleheads of Christianity who are oblivious to the real war and who try to reduce Christianity to a petty parlor game of parcheesi or tic-tac-toe. Beware the scorekeepers. Celebrate the heroes who resist transactional evil with love as Jesus did. Jesus does not keep score. If he did we would be out of luck.

Some clerics reduce Christianity from the sublime to the mundane, stultifying level at which a silverware draw is organized in a kitchen. They are aghast when they find a fork among the spoons. The disorder gives them a conniption. They are not happy until the fork is put in its proper place. To them, Christianity is a well-ordered silverware draw. Christianity, however, is a messy business. Sinners and saints seek God together - forks and spoons. The business of Christianity is not to put the forks and spoons into their proper place in the silverware draw. The business of Christianity is to transform forks into spoons - sinners into saints. Asking a fork to transform itself into a spoon is not how the transformation takes place. Only in the process of seeking God, does God transform us. We do not transform ourselves. The Church does not transform us. Only God does and he does so only as we participate in the process of seeking him. The Church goes off the rails when it tries to do God's job.

Participation is the job of the Church

The job of the Church in Christianity is limited. Participation is the job of the Church. The job of the Church is to stimulate our curiosity in God - to turn settlers into pilgrims - to induce us to seek God. Transformation is the job of God. The job of God is to transform sinners into saints. Transformation only takes place as we are seeking God. Our job is to preserve the truth about God that Jesus revealed to us through the use of his flesh and blood and to propagate it. Our job is to preserve the miracle of forgiveness that took place in the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection and to propagate it from then and there, across space and time, to the children of Adam and Eve here and now (Mark 16:15) . Then, we get out of the way and let God go to work. The Church does not gobsmack us. The Church does not knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . The gentle answer that Jesus gave us to the brutal evil that we did to him gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It is the blockbuster that changes the game. It is the catalyst of our conversion - the agent of our transformation. It shifts the paradigm. Our clerics ought to cease and desists from trying to play God - they ought to desist with their ersatz attempts to gobsmack us. The work of salvation goes off the rails when the Church tries to do God’s job.

The Great Leap from Time to Eternity

God is executing his plan to rescue the children of Adam and Eve from their dire predicament in the Valley of Tears. He started executing his plan as soon as we exited paradise and entered the Valley of Tears. The plan is simple. God puts us in intimate contact with the truth - both the sour truth and the sweet truth. "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32) . The sour truth pushes us to the exit of the Valley of Tears. The sweet truth pulls us to the entrance of paradise. Standing like a colossus at the nexus between the exit of godlessness and the entrance of paradise is Jesus. Through his bloody wounds the great leap is made from time to eternity  (Our Lady of Good Success) . He is the way  (John 14:6) . "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me."  (John 14:6) . 

Upon what foundation do you anchor your understanding of God?

Upon what rock (Matthew 7:24-27) do you anchor your understanding of God (Matthew 16:13-20) ? Upon what foundation does your understanding of God rest? What is the source of your understanding of God? Can you pinpoint it? Does your understanding of God have a specific, well-defined foundation? Unless and until you can pinpoint a specific, well-defined foundation for your understanding of God, your understanding of God will be fuzzy. It will be a low fidelity representation of the reality of God. It will not be the best approximation of God.

Note: Peter understood that Jesus was "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:13-20) before Jesus revealed his identity to the rest of the world through the sacrifice of his flesh and blood in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. According to Jesus, God the Father gave Peter a heads up (Matthew 16:13-20) . The rest of the world had to wait.

The beauty of the sweet syrup of forgiveness that Jesus poured into the Valley of Tears was his Contribution to the foundation that gives rise to a high fidelity understanding of God

To answer the evil that we did to him, Jesus poured the sweet syrup of forgiveness into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. The combination of our evil and his love - forgiveness is one of the sweet fruits of love - illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. Wow! Our God forgave us for the evil that we did to him (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . We did not deserve forgiveness yet our God gave it to us anyway.

The Son of God spoke to us through his flesh and blood. What did he say? How did he say it?

Jesus is the artist who painted the self-portrait of God on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection in the pigments of his flesh and blood. By means of flesh and blood, Jesus revealed God to us. Flesh and blood were the medium in which the artist, Jesus, worked.

Jesus set the beautiful jewel of forgiveness against the ugly foil of evil (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . The awesome combination of beauty and ugliness that Jesus assembled on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection highlights and emphasizes and intensifies and magnifies and amplifies and accentuates His beauty. It upgraded our understanding of God. Jesus's asymmetric presentation of God gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It highlights the stark difference between us and our God - between creatures and Creator. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9) .

How great is the love of a Creator who lays down his life for his creatures? What god other than the Christian God has made such a sacrifice? What god other than the Christian God has given his creatures the gift of his flesh and blood? Isn't the Christian God superior to all other gods?

What is the glorious victory that Jesus won for us on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection?

What is the glorious victory that Jesus won for us on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection? Jesus won his glorious victory when he unilaterally, gratuitously and unconditionally placed an equal sign between his flesh and blood and our food and drink (Luke 22:19) (Luke 22:20) (John 6:31-59) . In making the equation, Jesus transformed that which was bad into that which is good - a sacrifice into a banquet - murderers into dinner companions - an ignoble defeat into a glorious victory - very bad news for Jesus and humanity into the Good News of Great Joy. The equalization of his flesh and blood and our food and drink unequivocally demonstrated that the our God is head over heels in love with us (1 John 4:8) . Beware anyone who tries to dilute God's love for us with various caveats and conditions. Beware anyone who tries to water it down. God's love for us gives Christianity its magic and Jesus, his charisma Beware anyone who tries to squeeze the magic of God's love for us out of Christianity or out of Jesus. His love for us is perfect.

The Story of God versus his mere presence

Some Christians make the spurious claim that the mere presence of God, without any details to decorate it, is enough to impress us. The mere presence of God, however, is not, in itself, impressive. Nothing is impressive without details. A blank slate is merely a blank slate until it is written upon. Our God is distinguished from other gods by the details. The details make our God consequential. What impresses us is not the presence of God but the story of God - the story that unfolded on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus won for us a glorious victory. In glorious victory, Jesus published the Good News of Great Joy in the Valley of Tears. The magic of Christianity and the charisma of Jesus derive not from the mere presence of God but from his glorious victory. Without the glorious victory that Jesus won for us, he would be just another god - nothing special. Jesus descended from heaven to earth not to merely be present with us but to tell us the story of God. He did so on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The story of God is Jesus's greatest and his final parable. The story of the storyteller not the presence of the storyteller gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . Therefore, tell the story. Do not merely assert his mere presence. Beware any Christian who is bedazzled by the mere presence of God but is ignorant of or cannot articulate the story of God. God is a hero not because of his mere presence. God is a hero because of the glorious victory that he won on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. By the way, the purpose of the Mass is not to present the real presence of God to the children of Adam and Eve. Indeed, Jesus is really present but his presence is incidental to the purpose of the Mass. There is more to the Mass than the mere presence of God - much more. The purpose of the Mass is to convey the story of God that Jesus deposited into the public domain on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection from then and there, across space and time, to us here and now. The Mass preserves and propagates the story of God.

The home of a Christian in the Valley of Tears is the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection where Jesus revealed God to us by giving us his gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him. His gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him is the definitive answer to the question, 'Who is God?'. You can measure 'how Christian' a child of Adam and Eve is by measuring the distance from home. Never wander away from home. Spend time with God there. "Do not go away too far; do not stay away too long; do not come back too late."

God marked the location of the home of a Christian in the Valley of Tears with two conspicuous landmarks.

One of the two conspicuous landmarks is the Cross of Christ. Rally 'round the Cross! Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt. The Cross marks the spot of the treasure (1 Corinthians 1:17) .

The other conspicuous landmark is the Mass. What is the relationship between the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection and the Mass? The Mass is the vehicle that transports the insight about God that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection from then and there, across space and time, to us here and now. The operator of the vehicle is the Church. At Mass, the rabble and its ringleader take from Jesus his flesh and blood even though his flesh and blood do not belong to them. Jesus transubstantiates his flesh and blood into our food and drink through the miracle of forgiveness even though we do not deserve forgiveness. Jesus put an equal sign between his flesh and blood and our food and drink. In making the equation, Jesus transformed that which was bad into that which is good - a sacrifice into a banquet - flesh and blood into food and drink - murderers into dinner companions - an ignoble defeat into a glorious victory - very bad news for Jesus and humanity into the Good News of Great Joy.

Jesus took the first step in the hope that we would take the second. While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . He did not wait for our conversion before he forgave us (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 22:10) (Matthew 7:6) (John 8:10 -11) . He forgave us to bring about our conversion. Forgiveness (Luke 23:34) is the bridge (John 14:6) that Jesus built to span the pit (Luke 16:26) that we dug in our relationship with our God. Paradise is found not at the bottom of the pit but at the far side of the bridge. Our job is to stop digging the pit and to start crossing the bridge. Repentance is the vehicle that transports us out of the pit and across the bridge. Forgiveness gave us a second chance, a do-over, an opportunity to repair our brokn relationship with our God. How audacious is the God who loves us!

The miracle of forgiveness is the sweet bait that Jesus casts into the Valley of Tears to fish for the children of Adam and Eve (Matthew 4:19) . The fish take the bait hook, line and sinker. Why fish with any other bait?

"The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) . Understanding begets pursuit. A low fidelity understanding of God begets a low octane pursuit of him. A high fidelity understanding of God begets a high octane pursuit of him. No understanding = no pursuit. Our pursuit of God is directly proportional to our understanding of God.

To solve the problem of immorality, fill our hearts to the brim with love not our heads with a stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Only love begets love.

Jesus kept the three-headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution locked up in chains in the dungeon of his heart. Despite the brutal evil that we did to him, Jesus did not release it into the Valley of Tears. Instead, he released the Angel of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) . His answer to the brutal evil that we did to him tells us all that we need to know about God.

Why didn't the fact that we tortured and killed the dearly beloved Son of God - that we made him suffer and die - bring our relationship with God to an end? Didn't the evil that we did to him blow up our relationship with our God? How did God repair the relationship? How did God put the shattered pieces of the relationship back together again? The miracle that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection was that our God rebuilt his relationship with us. We killed it. He raised it from the dead. How?

The Testimony of the Witnesses

His bloody wounds are the witnesses who testify to the price he paid to publish here on earth the magnitude, scope, duration and uniqueness of his love for us.

His bloody wounds are the badges of forgiveness

His bloody wounds are the badges of forgiveness. They function as the rainbow functioned in the old covenant (Genesis 9:13) . Our God displays them to remind us that he forgave us for the brutal evil that we did to him.

Only Love enables us to deny ourselves

Our natural instinct - deeply hardwired into our very being - is to conserve our limited human resources (Matthew 16:24-26) . Self-preservation is a powerful instinct. Denying this natural instinct is easier said than done. When we observe someone denying himself, we witness a miracle (Titus 1: 16) . The greater the denial, the bigger the miracle. Only love makes denial possible. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) (John 12:24) .

Real miracles require flesh to spend

Life is the opportunity that God gives us to perform real miracles. The angels cannot work real miracles because they do not have flesh to spend. Hence, the source of the serpent's jealousy of us. God himself could not perform the miracles that the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve could perform until he took flesh and could spend it. Only fleshy humans have the power to perform real miracles. The cost of a real miracle is paid for out of our own pockets from our own limited human resources to purchase a benefit for or to lift a burden from our neighbors. The payment is contrary to our instinct for self-preservation - our instinct to conserve and to accumulate limited human resources. Miracles paid from unlimited divine resources are not as impressive because, although a prodigy is produced, no cost is paid. Jesus performed a real miracle on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. He spent all of his flesh and blood. He kept not a penny for himself. He has never spent more on anything else. The size of his payment is evidence of the size of his love for us. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) (John 12:24) . Therefore, How great is the love of a Creator who lays down his life for his creatures? If you want to witness a real miracle, look not to the prodigy produced, but to the source of the payment of the cost of production. God has endowed each of us with the power to produce real miracles. Tell the children. Remind the adults.

A Warning against the Miniaturization of 'God's Love for us'

It is correct to say that God love us. However, we do a great disservice to God and his love for us when we merely say that 'God loves us'. It is akin to saying that Shakespeare was just an author or that Michelangelo was just a painter or that Lucifer was just a villain. When Jesus pitched his tent among us at the "backside of the desert" (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of history and geography (John 1:46) , he painted a self-portrait that revealed the identity of God to us. The self-portrait was painted on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. In Jesus's self-portrait, brutal ugliness was juxtaposed against sublime beauty. We supplied the brutal ugliness. The Son of God supplied the sublime beauty. The contrast between our ugliness and His beauty highlights and emphasizes and intensifies and magnifies and amplifies and accentuates His beauty. If you leave out our brutal ugliness when you say that 'God loves us', you sacrifice the highlight, the emphasis, the intensification, the magnification, the amplification and the accentuation of his love for us. If you omit the foil of our brutality, you reduce his love for us. You make it appear smaller than it truly is. He did not just love us. He loved us even though we tortured and killed him - even though we made him suffer and die - even though we baptized him in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) - even though we nailed him to a cross where he hung until death. Now, that is love! Wow! Therefore, never forget to include the amplifier. 'The Son of God loves us even though we tortured and killed him' is a superior articulation of God's love for us because it includes the amplifier. A word to the wise is sufficient.

The Approximation of our God that Jesus made for us on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the best Approximation

Who is the Christian God? How do Christians describe him? Can you put the Christian God into words? Furthermore, on what foundation does your description of the Christian God rest? How did you derive your description? Is it a high fidelity representation of the reality of God or a low fidelity representation? How did Jesus best approximate our God? Let me help you. The foundation of our understanding of the Christian God is the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The wise anchor their understanding of the Christian God to the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Jesus best approximated our God for us by engaging with us in a lopsided transaction on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Surely, you are privy to the lopsided transaction and the insight about God that it carried with it? The lopsided transaction and the insight about God that it carries illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. It disclosed God to us.

An awesome and extraordinary breakthrough in our understanding of God was achieved when Jesus dropped the atomic bomb of revelation in the backside of the desert (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of history and geography (John 1:46) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. How do we get the awesome and extraordinary breakthrough in our understanding of God from then and there, across space and time, to us here and now? How do we ship it? Moreover, who is going to drive the vehicle that conveys it? The knowledge of God does not propagate itself. It doesn't have its own legs. It isn't self-propelled. Who is going to put the knowledge of God into our hands?

Jesus's gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.

The conversation between creatures and Creator that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the rock upon which the wise anchor their understanding of God (Matthew 7:24-27) . Upon it, the edifice of Christianity is built. “Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe? We sharply interrogated him with lash, thorns, nails and cross. His gentle answer to our sharp questions is the Good News of Great Joy. The Good News of Great Joy is that he forgave us for the brutal evil that we did to him (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) .

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge", God lamented (Hosea 4:6) . Jesus upgraded our understanding of God in order to prevent our destruction. He was the first drop (1 John 4:19) in the process of "Fill[ing] the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . Our job is to turn the drop into a flood.

An orthodox Christian is smitten by the fact that our God is head over heals in love with us. Unless and until you are smitten, you are not a Christen.

We Hit the Jackpot when we impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death

We hit the jackpot of revelation when we tortured and killed the God who loves us - when we made the God who loves us suffer and die. The jackpot was an extraordinary and awesome breakthrough in our understanding of God. Jesus answered the brutal evil that we did to him with gentleness. God's gentleness manifested itself in the form of forgiveness. He forgave us for the brutal evil that we did (Luke 23:34) . When we baptized Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17) in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we discovered the gentleness of God. Jesus upgraded our understanding of God by forgiving us (Luke 23:34) (Matthew 26:28) . The gentleness of his answer surprised us (1 Kings 19:11-13) . It gobsmacked us. It knocked us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . At the time his answer was given, we had absolutely no idea what it would be. God had become a stranger to us. We did not know how sensitive his love for us was to the evil that we would do to him. Now we know. Our God is no longer a stranger to us. His gentle answer revealed that God's love for us is a mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn love (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) . The dial that controls his love for us was in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. This is the Good News of Great Joy (Sirach 2:5) . Our evil begot the Good News of Great Joy. An upgraded understanding of God begets our pursuit of him. "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) . An upgraded understanding of God is the honey that lures the bees home to the hive. It is the sweet bait that Jesus casts into the Valley of Tears to fish for the children of Adam and Eve (Matthew 4:19) . The fish take the sweet bait hook, line and sinker. Why fish with any other bait?

the Vehicle that Jesus Used to Reveal God to Us was a comparison between Creator and creatures

To reveal God to us, Jesus did not give us a declaration in words. He showed us a story. He put on a demonstration of divinity. During the time he pitched his tent with us in the Valley of Tears (John 1:14) , Jesus produced many demonstrations of divinity (Matthew 11: 2-5) . This one, however, was different. This one was unique (John 12:27) . To perform the other demonstrations of divinity - healing the sick, raising the dead, etc. -, Jesus drew from his unlimited divine resources. In this demonstration, Jesus drew from his limited human resourses. He spent them all for us (John 12:24) . He kept not a penny for himself. He never paid more for anything else (Matthew 10:29-31) . In this demonstration of divinity, Jesus showed us that our conception of divinity as power is incomplete. There is more to divinity than absolute power - much more than raw omnipotence. Indeed, his power made paradise for us. However, something else makes paradise sweet. In the only story that Jesus showed us in which he spent his flesh and blood for us, Jesus pulls back the curtain on the aspect of divinity that makes paradise sweet.

The venue at which the story unfolded was the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The story was anchored to a specific location in the Valley of Tears. Furthermore, God marked the location of the story with a conspicuous landmark. The landmark was the Cross of Christ. Rally 'round the Cross! Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt. The Cross marks the spot of the treasure (1 Corinthians 1:17) .

Jesus was the protagonist of the story. We were the antagonists, the villains. Jesus participated in the story. So did we. He and we contributed to it.

The story was neither a comedy or a tragedy. It was a love story. Before the story took place, God had sent us a Love Note. Jesus was the Love Note that God sent to the children of Adam and Eve. The Word of God (John 1:1) was the incarnate expression of God's love of us - its articulation.

The centerpiece of the story was a comparison between Creator and creatures. A comparison was the vehicle of apocalyptic revelation.

In the comparison, we did not do well - not well at all. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we did evil to Jesus - brutal evil (The Passion of the Christ) . We tortured and killed the God who loves us. The God who loves us suffered and died. Our treatment of Jesus was rough. Our contribution to the comparison was ugly. The ugliness of our contribution to the comparison, however, was not without a purpose (Matthew 21:33-41) . Jesus made use of the evil that we did to him. He did not let it go to waste. Our evil became his servant (Genesis 50:20) . He harnessed our evil to serve as the dark foil of the comparison that revealed God to us. Our evil amplified and highlighted and emphasized and accentuated and magnified the beauty of his contribution to the comparison.

To answer the evil that we did to him, Jesus rose from the dead. That he rose from the dead still alive revealed to us, once again, his power. Nobody emerges from the dead. He did. Thankfully, his answer to the evil that we did to him was as gentle as the evil we did to him was rough. He did not answer the evil that we did to him in kind. He did not require "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) . He did not give us a taste of our own medicine. Instead, He contributed forgiveness to the comparison. The contribution of the Love Note to the love story was forgiveness.

Isn't forgiveness one of the sweet fruits of love? Isn't a tree known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45) ? Doesn't the fruit of the tree tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8) ?

The intransigence of his love for us verified the genuineness of the Love Note. If God's love for us were counterfeit, his love for us would have faded as we tortured him and would have died when we killed him. However, it did not. His love for us survived the evil that we did to him. Its survival guaranteed its genuineness.

Jesus did not reveal God to us remotely from the safety of heaven. Jesus joined us in the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the Valley of Tears toe to toe with evil. He did not invade the Valley of Tears at the head of a powerful army riding a tank armed to the teeth. He infiltrated behind enemy lines into hostile territory alone, riding a cross, and armed with no weapon but the sledgehammer of forgiveness. His purpose was to recruit an army to resist evil with love. With the sledgehammer of forgiveness, Jesus whacked us over the head. "Take that you bastards!" "I forgive you for the evil that you did to me" (Luke 23:34) .

Jesus exploited the 'Domino Effect" (Wikipedia) . Love begets love. "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19) . Jesus launched a chain reaction. From his heart, our hearts receive a transfusion of love. The transfusion of love is invigorating. It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) .

The greater was the evil that we did to him, the more astonishing is his forgiveness of us. When we showed Jesus our worst, Jesus showed us his best (Isaiah 55:8-9) .

Jesus used the comparison that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection as the vehicle to reveal God to us.

Our God is different than us - radically different (Isaiah 55:8-9) . We did brutal evil to him. He forgave us (Luke 23:34) . Does a comparison get any more lopsided than this? Can God be any more asymmetric than us?

Do you have the curiosity of Moses?

Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt (Exodus 3:1-3) .

The road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the holy ground on which the bush burned but was not consumed (Exodus 3:1-3) . Jesus is the burning bush (Matthew 17: 1-8) . We baptized him (Matthew 3:13-17) in a wicked baptism of fire in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection in the backside of the desert of godlessness (Exodus 3:1-3) ; but, the flames did not consume him. Why? What preempted his conflagration? Do you have the curiosity of Moses? Will you turn aside to see this great sight?.

When the Church becomes an obstacle in the way of our pursuit of God, the solution is not to abandon our pursuit of God. The solution is to abandon the Church.

A company with the best merchandise or the best services but no customers is a failure. A smaller, purer Church is a failure not a success.

The Church is the usher that shows us to our seats not the star of the show. Jesus is the star of the show. The Church goes off the rails when it starts to think that it is the star of the show. The center stage of Christianity is located on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. There, the main story of Christianity unfolded. We baptized Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17) in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. His gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him was forged in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) from the sacrifice of his flesh and blood. His gentle answer is also the answer to the question, 'Who is God?'. Jesus, by benevolent fiat, turned the sacrifice of his flesh and blood into a glorious banquet where he himself served the bread and wine of forgiveness (Luke 22:19) (Luke 22:20) (John 6:31-59) to the sinners who brutally took from him his flesh and blood (Luke 23:34) . This was the sin of sins. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. Yet, he forgave us (Luke 23:34) . He forgave us (Luke 23:34) even though we did not deserve forgiveness. We did not deserve forgiveness yet Jesus forgave us anyway (Luke 23:34) . This was the miracle of miracles. This was the whole point of his mission to the children of Adam and Eve. Serving the bread and wine of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) to hostile sinners was the vehicle that Jesus used to convey us to an upgraded understanding of God. It was how Jesus revealed God to us. It was the apocalyptic earthquake of revelation that raised our understanding of God from the dead (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) (Ephesians 5:14) . On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, the odd couple of epiphany, evil and forgiveness, consumated their marriage. "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Mark 10:9) . The bread and wine of forgiveness that Jesus serves us is the sweet bait that Jesus casts into the Valley of Tears to fish for the children of Adam and Eve (Matthew 4:19) . The fish take the sweet bait hook, line and sinker. Why fish with any other bait? What a God is our God! What a delight! His philanthropy knows no bounds.

The methodology of our Clerics is not the methodology of Jesus

Our clerics only desire to rule us as the secular governments rule us. They think that they are our kings. Frustrated by the lack of police powers in their kingdom, they devise various psychological weapons - lethal and non-lethal - to terrorize us. Our clerics beat us over the head with the billy club of sin until our souls are black, blue, battered, bruised and bleeding. They beat the crap out of our souls. They also wickedly transubstantiate the most Holy Eucharist into a weapon that they wield to reward and punish the children of Adam and Eve. "The Eucharist, although it is the fullness of sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak" ( Page 40 Evangelii Gaudium) . Our clerics are not content to be witnesses to the upgraded understanding of God that Jesus released into the Valley of Tears when we brutally baptized him (Matthew 3:13-17) in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. They do not want to expose us to the gravity of the revelation. They have no confidence that exposure works. They doubt that the gravity of Jesus's gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him is enough. Jesus was highly confident that the gravity of the revelation would gobsmack us - would knock us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . The gravity of his gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him is the strongest force on earth. It gives Christianity its magic. It gives Jesus his charisma. The gravity of his gentle answer pull us into a centripetal orbit around him. It is the blockbuster that changes the game. It is the catalyst of our conversion - the agent of our transformation. Yet, our clerics think that Jesus made a mistake. They have no faith in his methodology - his plan to rescue us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears. So they fashion for themselves ersatz police powers in a grotesque caricature and parody of secular governments. They usurp the role of God and try to convert sinners into saints by a methodology that is not God's. They do not understand that their role in our salvation is limited to transforming settlers into pilgrims, that is, stimulating our pursuit of God. God's role is to transform sinners into saints. Because our clerics have usurped God's role in our salvation, the Church has gone off the rails. It is driving the children of Adam and Eve away from the Church. "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) . Understanding begets pursuit. The billy club of sin and a weaponized Eucharist, not so much. What our cleric kings are trying to do by force, Jesus is trying to do by forgiveness.

Curiosity vs. Docility

Clericalism is the utter contempt of the shepherds for the perspective of the sheep. It is their dismissive disrespect. It is the notion that the Church is monologue not dialogue. It is a complete rejection of the theory that the truth emerges from the conflict of ideas. It is epitomized by the scornful teaching of Saint Pope Pius X who proclaimed that "...the one duty of the multitude is to allow themselves to be led, and, like a docile flock, to follow the Pastors" ( 1906 encyclical of Pope Pius X titled “Vehementer Nos“) . Saint Pope Pius X propagated the myth of the "unequal society" (Vehementer Nos) (Matthew 23:12). Open your noses and smell the bullshit. Even today, in the so-called modern Church, this is the bullshit that the shepherds bandy about that the sheep must overcome. The bullshit divides the house and a house divided cannot stand (Mark 3:25) . Either we are in this thing together or we are not. Either we pursue God together or we do not. Either we worship our God together or we don't. Either it is all for one and one for all or it is every man for himself. "Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of the truth" (Albert Einstein). Curiosity, not docility, is required for the pursuit of God. Docility is the enemy of curiosity. "Pray, pay and obey" is an ugly caricature of a Christian uttered with a smile by the Christian tyrants who desire to oppress the children of Adam and Eve. Christianity is in dire need of the curious not the docile. The Holy Spirit is tugging at our souls. Only the curious are following the tug back home to its source. Along the way, the curious are exploring the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God. How do we trigger curiosity about God in the children of Adam and Eve?

Logistics

God gave the Church a limited role. Jesus wove threads of truth into the very fabric of reality. The most important thread of truth that Jesus wove into the very fabric of reality was the Good News of Great Joy. Jesus deposited the Good News of Great Joy in the "backside of the desert" (Exodus 3:1-3) in the boondocks of history and geography (John 1:46) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection where we brutally baptized him (Matthew 3:13-17) in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . This thread of truth is the foundation of the Christian faith. The Church is the protector - the defender - the preserver of the threads of truth that Jesus wove into the very fabric of reality. God did not give to the Church the job of making the truth up out of whole cloth by dint of authority. Authority cannot manufacture truth. It cannot create a foundation for the truth where no foundation exists. When it tries to do so, it muddies the waters of truth. The Church is neither a magician who can conjure up the truth nor a clairvoyant who can see the truth that nobody else can see. The Church does its work inside reality not outside of it. The Church came into existence because God had a real problem to overcome within reality due to the inconspicous, anonymous and remote time and place into which Jesus deposited the Good News of Great Joy. The Good News of Great Joy does not propagate itself. It doesn't have its own legs. It isn't self-propelled. How do we get the Good News of Great Joy from then and there, across space and time, to us here and now? God's solution was the Church. God put the Church in charge of logistics. It is a humble but critical role. The job of the Church is to propagate the knowledge of God from then and there, across space and time, to us here and now. The primary vehicle that God gave the Church to do its job of propagation is the Mass. The Church's job is to get the knowledge of God into the hands of the children of Adam and Eve. Then, it must step aside and let God do the rest. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge", God declared (Hosea 4:6) . When the Church does its job, it prevents God's people from being destroyed for lack of knowledge.

The Battle over the Potential Difference

A potential difference exists between paradise and godlessness. Godlessness is sour. Paradise is sweet. The potential difference between goodlessness and paradise generates a current of salvation that flows from godlessness to paradise. The current of salvation sweeps us off our feet and carries us to our salvation. Very few swim against the tide. The serpent, however, tries to reverse the potential different. The means he uses to do this is to feed us with lies. He tries to distort our perception of reality. He was successful with Adam and Eve. With them, the serpent reversed the potential difference and turned the current of salvation into the current of damnation. Duped, Adam and Eve thought that a life lived as gods in godlessness would be superior to a life lived with God in paradise. They excluded God from their lives. Thankfully, God did not abandon us. To rescue the children of Adam and Eve, God is trying to shatter the serpent's illusions with the sledgehammer of truth. The truth sets us free. The truth exposes the real potential difference between the sourness of godlessness and the sweetness of paradise. Once the illusions that hide the reality of the potential difference are shattered, All that was needed to get the current of salvation to flow was a conductor. Jesus became the conductor. He is the bridge between the world of godlessness and the world of paradise. He is the way, etc. Through His bloody wounds, the new exodus is making its escape. The children of Adam and Eve are riding the conductor to salvation.

The sanctimonious want to bar sinners from the holy places that define the escape route of the new Exodus through the Valley of Tears, across the Red Sea of death, and into the promised land, the land of milk and honey. They promote a policy of exclusion. They erect "Do Not Enter" and "No Trespassing" signs to keep sinners away from the holy places. Unfortunately, this does not help sinners to discover and explore the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God. Sinners do not transform themselves. The Church does not transform sinners. Only God transforms sinners and the transformation takes place at the holy places. If the goal is to transform sinners into saints, it is necessary to welcome them to the holy places. It is counter-productive to keep sinners from the holy places. A policy of keeping sinners - the people who need it most - from the Holy Places is ludicrous.

Have you been captured by the gravity of Jesus's gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him?

Have you been captured by the gravity of the gentle answer that Jesus gave to the brutal evil that we did to him? Jesus forged his gentle answer from the sacrifice of his flesh and blood in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. His gentle answer generates a powerful gravity because it is the antithesis of the brutal evil that we did to him. His gentle answer is lopsided - asymmetric compared to the brutal evil that we did to him. Surprisingly, Jesus did not answer the brutal evil that we did to him in kind. He did not give us a taste of our own medicine. Jesus changed the tone of the conversation. Forgiveness greeted the brutal evil that we did to him. Jesus served us the bread and wine of forgiveness as his gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him. Jesus kept the three-headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution locked up in chains in the dungeon of his heart. Despite the brutal evil that we did to him, Jesus did not release it into the Valley of Tears. Instead, he released the Angel of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) . His gentle answer to the evil that we did to him tells us all that we need to know about God. The gravity of his gentle answer is the strongest force on earth. It gives Christianity its magic. It gives Jesus his charisma. Let the gravity of his gentle answer pull us into a centripetal orbit around him. An orthodox Christian is a child of Adam and Eve who has been captured by the gravity of Jesus's gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him. Do not measure the orthodoxy of a Christian by any other yardstick. An orthodox Christian is smitten by the fact that our God is head over heals in love with us. Unless and until you are smitten, you are not a Christen. Therefore, do Christianity right. Christianity, when done right, confronts us with the reality of God's love for us. Christianity is the religion that challenges us to come to grips with the fact that our God is head over heals in love with us. Christianity, when done right, rubs our noses into this truth. It sticks this fact in our faces. It pokes us in the eye with it. It whacks us over the head with it. The blow gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It is the blockbuster that changes the game. It is the catalyst of our conversion - the agent of our transformation.

"The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God" (Psalm 14:2) . An upgraded understanding of God was forged from the sacrifice of Jesus's flesh and blood in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The gravity from the transaction that unfolded on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the strongest force on earth. An orthodox Christian is a child of Adam and Eve who has been captured by its gravity. It pulls us into a centripetal orbit around Jesus. Do not measure the orthodoxy of a Christian by any other yardstick. To get us to seek God, expose us to the gravity of the transaction. Expose us to the gravity of the transaction then get out of the way and let God do the rest. Success is measured by the seeking of God. The curious who are seeking God will produce fruits "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . The seekers of God will not produce fruit at the same level. It is a mistake to expect uniformity in the production of fruit. Rejoice when a settler who had sunk his roots deep into the toxic soil of the Valley of Tears picks them up and becomes a pilgrim passing through it. As long as a pilgrim is heading in the right direction, success has been won. As we seek God, God transforms us.

Each of us Is the Pilot of Our own Soul

The Holy Spirit is tugging at our souls and the curious are following the tug back to its source. Along the way, the curious are exploring the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God. Following the tug of the Holy Spirit back to its source is an enterprise that we must engage in ourselves. Each of us must be the pilot of our own soul. We cannot subcontract the job to another. We cannot delegate it. No one else can do it for us not even our Church. It cannot be done vicariously. Seeking God is a unique, idiosyncratic, personal experience. There is no substitute for going through it. Why? In the process of seeking God, God transforms us. Unless we do it ourselves, we cannot be transformed.

P.S. The greatest sin is getting between the tug of the Holy Spirit and a sinner who is seeking God - interfering with the process (Matthew 12:31-32) . The job of the Church is to facilitate the sacred dance between the Holy Spirit and sinners not to frustrate it, filter it or foul it up (Isaiah 57:14) . The dance is primary. Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary. Anything that interferes is suspect (Matthew 23:13) (Matthew 23:24) (Matthew 6:33) . The Church often forgets that seeking God is not an enterprise reserved solely for saints. Sinners, too, seek God.

The E = mc² of the Christian World

Jesus served the bread and wine of forgiveness (Luke 22:19) (Luke 22:20) (John 6:31-59) to the sinners who brutally took his flesh and blood from him (Luke 23:34) . We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. He forgave us (Luke 23:34) . The evil that we did to Jesus when we brutally baptized him (Matthew 3:13-17) in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection ought to have revoked our eligibility to enjoy the sweet fruits of God's love for us ever again. At the very least, our evil ought to have pissed him off. It ought to have antagonized him. It ought to have earned us a place on his shit list. It ought to have provoked his natural instinct for justice. It ought to have triggered his reflex for revenge, retaliation and retribution. It ought to have required "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) . Ordinarily, evil begets evil so it ought to have transformed him into our vicious enemy - into a misanthropic monster - into the God who hates us. It ought to have shifted God from the pro-human team to the anti-human team with the serpent and his minions. When the fuse is lit, the bomb ordinarily explodes. But, remarkably, it did not. His love for us turned the bomb into a dud. Jesus did not reject us (Isaiah 55:8-9) . Surprisingly, Jesus did not answer the evil that we did to him in kind. He did not give us a taste of our own medicine. Jesus changed the tone of the conversation. He made it asymmetric - lopsided. The dial that controls his love for us was in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. We hit the jackpot of revelation when we tortured and killed the Son of God - when we made the Son of God suffer and die. Erupting from the brutal evil that we did to Jesus was an incandescent truth that illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany (Luke 23:34) . The evil that we did to Jesus when we brutally baptized him (Matthew 3:13-17) in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection revealed that his love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) . The more brutal was the evil that we did to Jesus, the more astonishing is his forgiveness of us. We did not deserve forgiveness yet Jesus forgave us anyway (Luke 23:34) . This was the whole point of his mission. Serving the bread and wine of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) to hostile sinners was the vehicle that Jesus used to convey us to an upgraded understanding of God. Gratuitously, unilaterally and unconditionally, Jesus put an equal sign between his flesh and blood and our food and drink. In forgiving us for the brutal evil that we did to him (Luke 23:34) , Jesus made the equation. It is the most powerful equation in the world. E = mc² may be the world's most famous equation. Jesus, however, gave us a better, more illuminating, more powerful equation. His flesh and blood = our food and drink (Luke 22:19) (Luke 22:20) (John 6:31-59) . This equation is the E = mc² of the Christian world. By this great equation, Jesus transformed that which was bad into that which is good, the murderous rabble and its ringleaders into his convivial dinner companions, a sacrifice into a banquet, an ignoble defeat into a glorious victory, very bad news for Jesus and humanity into the Good News of Great Joy. One small, inconspicuous equal sign that Jesus propitiously placed between his flesh and blood and our food and drink accomplished all of this! Our discovery of the divine equation gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . The gravity from the fact that Jesus served us the bread and wine of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) despite the brutal evil that we did to him is the most powerful force on earth. It gives Jesus his charisma. It is the magic of Christianity. Its gravity pulls us into orbit around him. Jesus took the first step in the hope that we would take the second. While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . He did not wait for our conversion before he forgave us (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 22:10) (Matthew 7:6) (John 8:10 -11) . He forgave us to bring about our conversion. How audacious is the God who loves us! Boldly, he went out on a limb for us. Audacity is the hallmark of our God. Blessed is the audacity of our God. Forgiveness (Luke 23:34) is the bridge (John 14:6) that Jesus built to span the pit (Luke 16:26) that we dug in our relationship with our God. Paradise is found not at the bottom of the pit but at the far side of the bridge. Our job is to stop digging the pit and to start crossing the bridge. Repentance is the vehicle that transports us out of the pit and across the bridge. Jesus is giving the children of Adam and Eve a second chance - a do over. Pope Francis declared, "Brothers and sisters, Christendom no longer exists!" (Pope Francis Saturday, 21 December 2019) . Attribute the destruction of Christendom to clerics who are less audacious with sinners than Jesus was. Beware the clerics who ration the bread and wine of forgiveness according to their own petty, parsimonious scheme. Beware the clerics who do not deal with sinners as Jesus dealt with sinners. A lack of audacity is driving the Church down the tubes of irrelevancy.

If we lost the entire Bible - if we lost the entire Church - but we still had this fragment of historical facts known as the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, it would be enough. "From a drop of water a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other (Arthur Conan Doyle)." From the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we can infer the true nature of God and come to worship Him

Love without limits

In order to forge the miracle of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) , Jesus sacrificed his flesh and blood in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. He did not forge the miracle of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) by drawing upon his unlimited divine resources. He forged the miracle of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) by drawing upon his limited human resources. He paid them all for us (1 Corinthians 7:23) . He kept not a penny for himself. He has never paid more for anything else (John 15:13) (John 10:15-18) . "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) (John 12:24) . The more exorbitant was the cost that our God paid to forge the miracle of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) , the more astonishing is his forgivness of us. By forging the miracle of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) , Jesus showed us that God’s love for us is unlimited - unlimited in size, unlimited in scope and unlimited in duration (Love is the Gold Standard of Christianity) . Limits to God’s love for us simply do not exist. They are pernicious illusions that distort our perception of reality. His love for us is perfect. If God's love for us were counterfeit, it would have faded as we tortured him and would have died when we killed him. However, it did not. His love for us survived the brutal evil that we did to him. The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. Our discovery of love without limits gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . The gravity from the fact that our Creator's love for us is without limits is the most powerful force on earth. It gives Jesus his charisma. It is the magic of Christianity. Its gravity pulls us into orbit around him.

Babe Ruth has been benched

The gravity from the fact that our Creator's love for us is without limits is the most powerful force on earth (Luke 23:34) . It gives Jesus his charisma. It is the magic of Christianity. Its gravity pulls us into orbit around him. The Church has entered a dark period of steep decline because it has substituted other, lesser, disenchanting aspects of Christianity for the most powerful force on earth. It has exiled the most powerful force on earth to a cupboard. It has put it in a nook. Instead of unleashing it into the world, the Church has put it back into its case and put the case in a closet. The Church no longer brings it to bear on the problem of our salvation. Babe Ruth has been benched.

Christianity is done when we sacrifice our flesh and blood in resistance to evil (Love is the Gold Standard of Christianity) . Evil is hungry. It needs to be fed. When we feed it our flesh and flood as Jesus did, we stop it dead in its tracks. We kill it. Evil is a communicable disease. We stop its transmission by quaranteening it. The seeds of evil do not germinate in the soil of love. Love is toxic to evil. Love suffocates evil as water suffocates a fire. Therefore, contain the contagion by building firewalls of love! Quarantine it. Quarantine evil with love.

Christians are the army that Jesus recruited to resist evil with love

Our mission is not to battle confusion. Our mission is to battle evil - transactional evil as Jesus did. Jesus's purpose was to recruit an army to resist evil with love. We are that army. To think that our mission is to battle confusion about our Church's byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole, is, itself, a confusion of our mission. It is a perverse twisting of the mission of Christianity. The perversion is perpetrated by Christians who do not understand Christianity - who haven't a clue. Let the craven bureaucrats of Christianity fight the battle of confusion in their well-appointed offices from the safety of the sidelines. If the bureaucrats think that they are fighting the war by preaching sermons at us from the safety of an ambo, they should think again. Real Christians fight the real war in the scrum at the line of scrimmage. Real Christians are waging war against evil in the zone of danger. We do not win the war against evil by trying to lessen the confusion. We win the war against evil by resisting evil with love. Bureaucrats refine the paperwork; patriots win the war through the matyrdom of their flesh and blood. Evil is hungry. To defeat it, we sacrifice our flesh and blood. Jesus showed us the way to victory. We must love as Jesus loved. He loved us even though we tortured and killed him - even though we made him suffer and die. Hence, the mission of a Christian is not easy. (SS)

Forgiveness is the incandescent Truth whose glorious Light Illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God

The sledgehammer of forgiveness was forged from the sacrifice of Jesus's flesh and blood in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) as he proceeded through the Valley of Tears on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. It was a road that Jesus eagerly desired to bypass but he took it anyway (Luke 22:42) . He ran the gauntlet for us. Forgiveness (Luke 23:34) is the sledgehammer with which Jesus whacks us over the head to wake us from our slumber - to rouse us from the dead (Ephesians 5:14) . It shatters the illusion that darkened our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany as the blow of a hammer shatters glass. It revealed God to us. The application of the sledgehammer of forgiveness to evil shatters hearts of stone and transform them into hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) . Only a blow from the sledgehammer of forgiveness transforms us - transforms godless people into people of God. Jesus led by example. He did not merely preach homilies at us as a priest does from the safety of an ambo. He exited the sidelines and entered the fray - he joined us in the zone of danger. Jesus did not reveal God to us remotely from the safety of heaven. Jesus joined us in the scrum at the line of scrimmage in the Valley of Tears toe to toe with evil. He did not invade the Valley of Tears at the head of a powerful army riding a tank armed to the teeth. He infiltrated behind enemy lines into hostile territory alone, riding not a tank but a cross, and armed with no weapon but the sledgehammer of forgiveness. His purpose was to recruit an army to resist evil with love. He taught us how to deal with evil by dealing with evil himself. Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. He donned the jet pack and flew to teach us that we, too, can fly. What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was! By wielding the sledgehammer of forgiveness himself, Jesus showed us that it does, indeed, work. He equipped the army that he recruited in the Valley of Tears with this mighty weapon so it could deliver the coup d'etat to evil. Have we ever seen the equal to our God? Before entering the battlefield to bring the war against evil to our enemies, Jesus, the mighty general, disarmed. He doffed his invincible armor of divinity, donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood, and dressed like us, entered the furnace of affliction. It was a most unusual tactic. Unexpected. Surprising. Counterintuitive (Isaiah 55:8-9) . His disarmament on the verge of battle gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . "What the heck is he doing?", we exclaim nonplussed (Isaiah 55:8-9) . He is f@@king crazy! What a radical military maneuver! How audacious is our God! Yes, come Lord Jesus, come. See how we wage war against evil using the mighty weapon that you forged from the sacrifice of your flesh and blood in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) !

Evangelization, when done right, exposes the children of Adam and Eve to the most powerful force on earth.

Who is God?

Do you have an answer to the question, 'Who is God?'? What is your answer to the pagan who asks you to say a word or two about the Christian God? How do you describe your God to the non-believer? What is your answer to your children who inquire about your understanding of God? Can you reach into your pocket and pull out an answer? Or, are your pockets empty? What shall we say? Is their agreement amongst Christians on how to answer the question, 'Who is God?'? There is only one God (1 Timothy 2:5) (James 2:19) . Surely, therefore, there is only one answer. Moreover, if the answer to the question, 'Who is God?', does not knock your socks off, the answer is inadaquate - sub-par - low fidelity. If the answer does not gobsmack you, it is probably wrong. If the answer does not knock you off your horse (Acts 9:4) , look for it elsewhere. God is not banal. He is not ho-hum. God is not ordinary. He is not insipid (Matthew 5:13) . A fitting answer to the question, 'Who is God?', is as extraordinary as God himself is extraordinary. Its magic matches the magic of God.

Christianity is a treasure map for treasure hunters engaged in a treasure hunt (Matthew 13:44) . The Cross marks the spot of the treasure (1 Corinthians 1:17) . The treasure of Christianity is the answer to the question, 'Who is God?'. The treasure was forged in the Valley of Tears when we brutally baptized Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17) in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. We hit the jackpot when we tortured and killed the Son of God - when we made the Son of God suffer and die. Erupting from the brutal evil that we did to Jesus was an incandescent truth that illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany (Luke 23:34) . Christianity pinpoints the location of the treasure but we must forage for it for ourselves. We cannot subcontract the job to another. We cannot delegate it. No one else can do it for us not even our Church. It cannot be done vicariously. Seeking God is a unique, idiosyncratic, personal experience. There is no substitute for going through it. Why? In the process of seeking God, God transforms us. Unless we do it ourselves, we cannot be transformed. Therefore, grab your shovel. Dig up the treasure of Christianity (Matthew 13:44) . Make yourself rich.

Our understanding of God is only as good as its foundation

Our understanding of God is only as good as its foundation. The value of any answer to the question, 'Who is God?' depends on the foundation on which it rests. On what foundation, does your understanding of God rests?

The fundamental unit of thinking is the troika of question, answer, and foundation. They are the sub-atomic particles that form the nucleus of a conception. The sub-atomic particles that form the nucleus of a conception do not carry the same persuasive force. A question and an answer are neutral particles. They do not carry any persuasive force. A foundation is a charged particle. It is the particle that carries the persuasive force. An answer to a question derives its strength from its foundation. A weak foundation begets a weak answer; a strong foundation begets a strong answer. Foundations run the gamut from sand to rock (Matthew 7:24-27) . The weakest of foundations is authority. The strongest foundation is intimate contact with the truth itself. Authority is no substitute for intimate contact with the truth itself. Intimate contact with the truth itself packs the strongest persuasive punch. It gives our rationality a powerful wallop.

Warning us that the fire is hot is one thing (Genesis 3:3) . Letting us put our fingers into the flames to learn for ourselves that the fire is hot is a horse of an entirely different color (Genesis 3: 16-19) . God is rescuing us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears by putting us in intimate contact with the truth itself - both the sour truth and the sweet truth. God is the artist who paints the Masterpiece of Reality on the Canvas of our Rationality in the Pigments of Truth . “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32) .

The sour truth is harsh but effective medicine. We stew in the toxicity of the Valley of Tears like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine. Our baptism in it is the glue that binds us to the gift of paradise. The prodigal son will never go back to the pig sty. Neither will we. The experience makes us know better. We are disobedient not irrational. The sour truth also defangs the serpent - it drains from the serpent's greatest lie (Genesis 3:5) its power to deceive.

The sweet truth dilutes the sourness of godlessness in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. The sweet truth mitigates our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears. Jesus is the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down in the most delightful way Mary Poppins.

The sweet truth and the sour truth are the engines that generate the current of salvation. The current of salvation sweeps us up off our feet and carries us to our salvation. Very few swim against the tide.

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, That there may be food in my house. Put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, And see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure!" (Malachi 3:10)

Jesus revealed his understanding of God

Jesus revealed his understanding of God to us on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The revelation was not deposited into words. Words were too fragile a conveyance to carry the weight of the revelation. The weight would crush them as flat as a pancake and spill their meaning all over the place in an unintelligible mess. Such spillage would create a theological disaster of epic misunderstanding! The revelation, therefore, was conveyed to us by a vehicle much more robust - and dramatic - than words. Instead of words, God, the author of reality, staged a violent collision between his dearly beloved Son, Jesus, and the evil that we did to him. The violent collision was bigger than the Big Bang Big Bang and larger than CERN's Large Hadron Collider LHC . From the violent collision, incandescent truths about God erupted to illuminate the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. Jesus showed us the "similitude" of God for us to behold Numbers 12:8 . He did not just give us a declaration about God. He gave us a demonstration of God. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We impaled the God who loves us on a cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a live worm on a sharp hook where he hung until death. The God who loves us submitted himself (Luke 22:42) to a brutal baptism (Matthew 3:13-17) in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . In his answer to the brutal evil that we did to him, Jesus revealed God to us. Surprisingly, Jesus did not answer the evil that we did to him in kind. He did not give us a taste of our own medicine. He did not require "an eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Exodus 21:24) . Jesus changed the tone of the conversation. He made it asymmetric - lopsided. He met our brutality with gentleness. Gentleness is the significant characteristic of his answer. Jesus forgave us (Luke 23:34) for the brutal evil that we did to him. Jesus showed us the gentleness of God on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The gentleness of his answer gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . The greater was our brutality to him, the more astonishing is the gentleness of his answer to us. Is your answer to the question, 'Who is God?' the same as the answer that the Son of God gave to us? Your answer to the question, 'Who is God?' must yield to Jesus's answer. It must bend the knee. Why? Only Jesus has seen and knows the Father (John 6:38-46) (Matthew 11:27) (John 8:19) . In fact, God banned us from making representations of him in the first place because of the low fidelity of human made representations (Exodus 20:4-6) (Deuteronomy 5:7-9) (Isaiah 44:6-18) (Micah 1:7) (Hosea 13) . If you did not get your representation of the reality of God directly from the hands of Jesus himself, the odds are that the picture of God that you hold in your head is inaccurate, that is, it is a low fidelity representation of the reality of God - a cheap, low quality imitation - a knockoff. A knockoff is of dubious value to you. Better no representation of the reality of God than a low fidelity representation of him.

Can you point me in the Right Direction?

Can you point me in the right direction. Can you tell me where do I look for the answer to the question, 'Who is God?'?

God wants us to exhume the corpse of godlessness that is poisoning us as it rots in our hearts (Matthew 24:28) (Luke 17:20-21) (2 Maccabees 9:9) . “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26) .

A + B = C

The evil that we did to Jesus on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection + his forgiveness of us = an upgraded understanding of God

A Warning Against Those who Underestimate God's limitless love of us

As Jesus proceeded through the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, our brutal evil scraped away flesh and blood from his body as barnacles are scraped from the hull of a boat to reveal a God whose love for us is limitless - limitless in size, limitless in scope, and limitless in duration. We know with certainty that our God's love for us is limitless because he showed us his answer to the brutal evil that we did to him (Luke 23:34) . He caressed his brutal butchers with the unilateral, gratuitous and unconditional gift of gentle forgiveness (Luke 23:34) . The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it. The evil that we did to him in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection revealed that his love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) . Beware anyone who underestimates God's love for us (1 Corinthians 13) . Beware anyone who tries to dilute it with caveats and conditions. Beware anyone who tries to water it down. Beware anyone who tries to squeeze the magic of God's love for us out of Christianity. Beware anyone who tries to downgrade, trivialize, marginalize, peripheralize, sterlize and homogenize the astonishing magic of God's love for us into a cold, bland, dispassionate, rational, byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Run from the codifiers. Run from their cold, dead hearts (Ezekiel 36:26) . Run fast and run far. They do not understand magic. They do not believe in miracles. They do not have a childlike sense of wonder (Matthew 18:2-4) . They do not understand that God's love for us is the magic of Christianity.

The process of filling hearts with love

Only love begets love. By loving us, Jesus initiated the process of filling our hearts to the brim with love. He was the first drop (1 John 4:19). However, he did not finish the process. Our job is to finish the process. Our job is to carry the process of filling hearts with love to its conclusion. By loving others, we continue the process of filling our hearts to the brim with love. Our job is, like his, to dilute the toxicity of the Valley of Tears by pouring the sweet syrup of love into it. Our job is to turn the drop into a flood.

The ammunition of the Christian is love

The ammunition of the Christian is love (1 John 4:19) . If you are not filling the space that you occupy to the brim with love, you are not doing Christianity. Christianity fails when its proponents try to fill our heads with a byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations red tape and rigmarole. "Fill the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . How? By loving. Love is done not said. Christianity is not classroom work; it is field work. Christians do not merely read about going on safari; they go on safari. They hunt the big game armed with love. For love to bear fruit, it must be practiced not merely preached. Only love begets love. Preaching about love begets nothing.

The gentleness of his answer to the brutal evil that we did to him is the bright light that illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany (John 8:12) (Genesis 1:3-5) (John 1:4-9) . In the apocalyptic light of gentleness, Jesus revealed God to us.

The knowledge of God has the power to transform the children of Adam and Eve from sinners into saints - only the knowledge of God. The knowledge of Christianity's stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole does not possess the same power. Jesus inaugurated the new covenant by releasing the knowledge of God into the Valley of Tears not by releasing the knowledge of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

We are at war!

The war that the serpent is waging against God is a war against love. The serpent is trying to drain the most Sacred Heart of Jesus of his love for us. Fortunately for us, in every battle, the serpent is failing. The serpent is losing the war. Our God is clinging to his love of us, holding tight and refusing to let go. The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection could budge it. The evil that we did to him on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection revealed that his love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 8:4-8) .

Why did the Son of God disarm on the brink of battle?

To do battle with evil here in the Valley of Tears (Revelation 12:7-12) (Luke 10:18) (Isaiah 14:12-16), the Son of God did something that no human general would do - Jesus disarmed. It was a most unusual tactic. Unexpected. Surprising. Counterintuitive (Isaiah 55:8-9) . Disarmament on the brink of his battle with evil gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . "What the fu@@ is he doing?", we exclaim nonplussed (Isaiah 55:8-9) . The Son of God doffed his invincible armor of divinity, donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood and, dressed like us, pitched his tent with us in the Valley of Tears. The Son of God become one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. Furthermore, while dressed in our frail uniform of flesh and blood, he entered the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection where he submitted himself (Luke 22:42) to a brutal baptism (Matthew 3:13-17) in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We nailed the God who loves us to a cross where he hung until death.

Why? Why did the Son of God disarm?

By disarming, by doffing his invincible armor of divinity and donning our frail uniform of flesh and blood, Jesus kicked off, by his own gentle act of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) , the new age of forgiveness for the children of Adam and Eve. He shifted the paradigm. While our God was dressed in his invincible armor of divinity, it was impossible for God to show us forgiveness. Forgiveness is possible only in situations where evil can de done. God was keen on revealing himself to us through the vehicle of forgiveness. Disarmament enabled our God to show his willingness to pay out of his own pocket the exorbitant cost of forgiveness. He paid the exorbitant cost not from his unlimited divine resources. He paid it from his limited human resources. He paid them all for us (1 Corinthians 7:23) . He kept not a penny for himself. He has never paid more for anything else (John 15:13) (John 10:15-18) . The more exorbitant was the cost that our God paid, the more astonishing is his forgivness of us. Forgiveness (Luke 23:34) is the bridge (John 14:6) that Jesus built to span the pit (Luke 16:26) that we dug in our relationship with our God. Paradise is found not at the bottom of the pit but at the far side of the bridge. Our job is to stop digging the pit and to start crossing the bridge. Jesus is giving the children of Adam and Eve a second chance - a do over. He unilaterally and gratuitously put the equal sign between his flesh and blood and our food and drink. In making the equation, he transubstantiated that which was bad into that which is good. Rejoice! Be glad! Forgiveness inaugurated the new covenant between humanity and divinity. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) The Son of God disarmed himself in order to arm us with the knowledge of God. "... for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) . The evil that we did to Jesus in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) opened the floodgates of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) . Through the floodgates of forgiveness, the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness poured into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. It irrigates the barren soil of the Valley of Tears and, thereby, initiates the process of transforming the Valley of Tears into the gardens of the new Eden (Isaiah 51:3) (Isaiah 61:4) (2 Corinthians 5:17) (Genesis 2:8-9) . Forgiveness is the truth that gives Jesus his charisma. It is the most powerful force on earth. It pulls us into an orbit around him. Evangelization, when done right, exposes the children of Adam and Eve to the gravity of his gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him.

When we build a model of the Christian understanding of God, don't we need to take into account his gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him?

The Precise Location of Jesus's greatest revelation

Did you notice the flare that God launched into the darkness to mark the precise location of Jesus's greatest revelation? On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, God erected the Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) . The Cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17) marks the precise location of Jesus's greatest revelation. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus made his greatest investment. There he did not invest his limitless divine resources. There he invested his limited human resources. He invested all of them for us. He did not keep a penny for himself. He has never invested more anywhere else or in anything else. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) (John 12:24) (Love is the Gold Standard of Christianity) . The God who loves us lay down his life for his friends on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We baptized the God who loves us in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . We nailed the God who loves us to a cross where he hung until death. He forgave us (Luke 23:34) . Now, that is love! Wow! The greater was the evil that we did to the God who loves us, the more astonishing is his forgiveness of us (Luke 23:34) .

The Magic of Christianity is God's Love for us

In the course of his love affair with us, God sent us a Love Note. Jesus was the holy vehicle that God used to convey his love for us from the kingdom of God, across the Red Sea of death, and into the Valley of Tears [in the opposite direction of our journey (John 3:13) ]. Jesus was the sweet syrup of love that God poured into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the samw way that dugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Jesus was the Love Note that God sent to us. Have you read the Love Note? But, we violently spurned God's advances. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. What a mistake! What were we thinking? How big of an idiot were we? With brutal violence, we tried to terminate the love affair between us and our God. We tried to end the love story. The evil that we did to him seemed to burn the bridge of our relationship with our God - irrevocably. The evil that we did to him seemed to become an immovable obstacle in the way of the love affair. The evil that we did to him presented itself as an insoluble problem in the narrative of the love story. Our God, however, did not give up on us. He persisted. He refused to end his love affair with us (Jeremiah 31:3) . He refused to call off the engagement. The intransigence of his love for us caused our God to show us the greatest, most apocalyptic miracle that he ever performed in the Valley of Tears. The miracle was astounding (Isaiah 55:8-9) (Psalm 8:4-8)! Our God forgave us for the evil that we did to him (Luke 23:34) . Wow (Isaiah 55:8-9) (Psalm 8:4-8)! The miracle of forgiveness solved the insoluble problem. The miracle of forgiveness cleared the immovable obstacle out of the way of love. The miracle of forgiveness bridged the gap of the hole that our evil dug in the romance. Over the bridge of forgiveness, the love story continues. His love for us is relentless. It never gives up. It never surrenders. Beware anyone who underestimates God's love for us (1 Corinthians 13) . Beware anyone who tries to squeeze the magic of God's love for us out of Christianity. Beware anyone who tries to downgrade, trivialize, marginalize, peripheralize, sterlize and homogenize the astonishing magic of Christianity into a cold, bland, dispassionate, rational, byzantine and stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Run from the codifiers. Run from their cold, dead hearts (Ezekiel 36:26) . Run fast and run far. They do not understand magic. They do not believe in miracles. They do not have a childlike sense of wonder (Matthew 18:2-4) . They do not understand that God's love for us is the magic of Christianity.

God does religion not politics

The goal of both religion and politics is to induce the tree to produce sweet fruit "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . Isn't a tree known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45) ? However, the methodology of religion and politics is different. The overlap in religion and politics is only in effect and not in cause (Matthew 22:21) (Matthew 6:24) . Religion works from the inside out (Luke 17:20-21) (Luke 6:45) (Matthew 15:19) (Mark 7:15-21) . Religion, at least the Christian religion when done right, cultivates the heart. To induce the tree to produce sweet fruit, religion tries to fill our hearts to the brim with love on the theory that "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10) (Matthew 22:36-40) . “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them" (Matthew 5:17). Moreover, from the reservoir of a heart filled to the brim with love, we can draw the sweet syrup of love to dilute the toxicity of our circumstances in the same manner that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. We can do what Jesus did on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. When the evil that we did to Jesus turned his bloody wounds into the floodgates of forgiveness, he released the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness into the Valley of Tears to irrigate its barren soil and thereby initiate the process of transforming the Valley of Tears into the gardens of the new Eden (Isaiah 51:3) (Isaiah 61:4) (2 Corinthians 5:17) (Genesis 2:8-9) . In contrast to religion, politics works from the outside in. Politics emeshes us in an external straight jacket of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. Politics substitutes its external straight jacket of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole for a heart filled to the brim with love. Politics bypasses the heart. The heart of politics is artificial. It is a prosthesis made up of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole. The best, most productive morality takes the form of religion not politics. It proceeds on a trajectory that passes through the heart. God does religion not politics. Many, however, do politics instead of religion mainly because religion is a heavier lift than politics and we rather do the easier job rather than the harder job. It is easier to legislate than to love. Laws do not change hearts. Only love changes hearts. Love in the form of forgiveness was the seed that Jesus planted in the toxic soil of our loveless hearts to depetrify our hearts of stone (Ezekiel 36:26) and to grow the gardens of the new Eden in them (Luke 17:20-21) . In the gardens of the new Eden, the children of Adam and Eve dwell in happiness.

The tank that holds our understanding of God sprung a leak. Jesus came to plug the hole and to refill the tank.

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge", God declared (Hosea 4:6) . Something needed to be done to prevent our destruction. The answer to the question, 'Who is God?', needed to be raised from the dead (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) . God, our father, dispatched Jesus, his son, to fill the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) . He was the first drop (1 John 4:19) . By loving us, Jesus started the process of inundation. However, he did not finish it. Our job is to finish it. Our job is to carry the process of inundation to its conclusion. Our job is, like his, to dilute the toxicity of the Valley of Tears by pouring the sweet syrup of love into it. Our job is to turn the drop into a flood. Jesus put us in charge of logistics. Our job is to get the knowledge of God into the hands of the children of Adam and Eve. Then, we must step aside and let God do the rest.

The process of inundating the Valley of Tears with the knowledge of God (Isaiah 11:9) (Habakkuk 2:14) (Hosea 6:6) is primary. Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary. Anything that interferes is suspect. Get the head right and the heart will follow. Upgrade our understanding of God by putting us into intimate contact with the lopsided 'conversation' that took place between divinity and humanity on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we meet again the bush that burns but is not consumed (Exodus 3:1-3) . Let us turn aside and see this great sight (Exodus 3:1-3) . Why is the bush not burnt (Exodus 3:1-3) ? Why did the flames not consume it? Ordinarily, fire begets fire. But, not so with the God who loves us - not so. In the midst of the fire, Jesus clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. Real love does not burn. Real love survives the conflagration. Let us witness with our own eyes the gentle answer that Jesus gave us to the brutal evil that we did to him. The brutal evil that we did to Jesus opened bloody wounds in his body. His bloody wounds became the floodgates of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) . Through them, the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness poured into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee.

Love is the cushion - the firewall - that insulates us from the teeth and tongues of our crosses.

Saving the answer to the question, 'Who is God?', from extinction

Since Eden, our understanding of God had faded from the face of the Earth (Hosea 4:6) (John 10:5) (Psalm 69:8) (Exodus 2:22) . The answer to the question, 'Who is God?' teetered on the brink of extinction. The answer clung to life only among a small, wandering tribe of desert nomads known as the Jews. God had stashed the answer with them for safekeeping. They were its guardians. God had appointed them as the trustees of our understanding of God in the Valley of Tears. They were the pilot light that kept the flame of understanding burning for God's future use (Isaiah 11:1) .

Orthodox Christianity

What makes a Christian orthodox? Is a Christian labeled orthodox whose behavior does not deviate from Christianity's stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole? Or is a Christian labeled orthodox whose understanding of God matches the Christian understanding of God. When we take a measurement of a Christian's orthodoxy do we ignore his or her understanding of God or do we take it into account? Before we award the label, orthodox, to a Christian, can we demand that he or she disclose his or her understanding of God and the foundation on which his or her understanding of God rests.

Note: Belief begets behavior (Luke 6:45) (Luke 17:20-21) (Matthew 15:19) (Mark 7:15-21) . If you want to influence our behavior, you must first upgrade our understanding of God. To influence the effects, you must first take control of their causes. Some, however, mistakenly think that they can bypass the hard job of upgrading our understanding of God and instead, like a king, directly regulate our behavior by fiat. They think that their stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole begets behavior. Their substitution of their codex for an upgraded understanding of God does not work. It is a failure. There is no shortcut. In order to reap the sweet fruits, the tree must be first cultivated (Luke 6:43-45) . A ton of resources needs to be poured into the cultivation of the tree. It is ludicrous to expect the tree to bear sweet fruits when fiat is substituted for upgrading our understanding of God. We need witnesses not kings. More revelation; less regulation.

Choose your weapon

To fight the war against evil, we can choose from an arsenal of two weapons:

1) the billy club of sin, or

2) the sledgehammer of forgiveness

Which weapon do you choose?

The billy club of sin is used to beat the crap out of our souls until our souls are black, blue, battered, bruised and bleeding. The experience is as unpleasant as the unpleasantness of sin itself. Spare the rod and spoil the child, they say. The billy club of sin is good for our souls. We must take our lumps like men. Beating their neighbors souls with the billy club of sin is justified by the pretext that their "violence" prevents their victims and the other members of the body of Christ who witness the violence from being confused about their stultifying codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole.

The sledgehammer of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) was forged in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . Without the sledgehammer of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) , it would be impossible to raise our understanding of God from the dead. God stays a stranger to us. God was revealed to us by the miracle of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) that emerged from the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) .

Which weapon would I use? I would use the weapon that Jesus used.

Christianity is not about sin. It is about forgiveness. Our God inaugurated the new covenant with forgiveness not sin. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: ... And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34) . Indeed, both sin and forgiveness played roles in the inauguration of the new covenant. Our sin, the evil that we did to Jesus on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, played the role of the explosives that violently blew open the floodgates of forgiveness in the body of Christ. Through the floodgates of forgiveness, the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness poured into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. The role of forgiveness was to introduce us to the God who loves us. Forgiveness was the vehicle that Jesus used to convey us into the mind of God. The ratio between forgiveness and sin is out of whack - way out of whack. Until a rebalancing takes place in our understanding of the relative weights of sin and forgiveness in Christianity, Christianity is in trouble.

The flaw of most Christians is that they seldom talk about their God

The flaw of most Christians, especially their clerics, is that they tend to talk about their religion, their morality or their Church. But, they seldom talk about their God. It is as if they do not know him. When we try to engage them in a conversation about their God, they hide their poor understanding of God (Hosea 4:6) behind the excuse of mystery. "Who is God", we ask? They say, "God is a mystery". Poppycock! The excuse that "God is a mystery" is simply not true. Sure, there is much we do not know about our God (1 Corinthians 2:9) (Isaiah 55:8-9) . Indeed, Jesus gave us only a glimpse of him. But, what a beautiful glimpse it was! Jesus disclosed his understanding of God to us in a lopsided transaction that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection by giving us the gift of a gentle answer (Luke 23:34) to the brutal evil that we did to him. His gentle answer to our brutal evil was the vehicle that Jesus used to convey us to an upgraded, high fidelity, first class understanding of God.

In the fullness of time, Jesus resurrected the knowledge of God from the dead (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) . He vivified it. He brought it back to life. Where do we look to discover the answer to the question, 'Who is God?'? Can we pinpoint the exact location of the answer? We sure can. On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, Jesus switched on the light (John 8:12) (Genesis 1:3-5) (John 1:4-9) that illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.

The Road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the Container that Holds the Best Approximation of God

There is really just one place for us to look in order to upgrade our understanding of God. God choreographed a lopsided transaction and deposited it into a container. The container is the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The container holds everything that we need to know about God. God is discovered by exploring the contents of the container and contemplating them. Jesus doffed his invincible armor of divinity, donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood and, dressed like us, entered the the container for the express purpose of showing God to us. In the container, Jesus put the best approximation of God on display.

The road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the holy ground on which the bush burned but was not consumed (Exodus 3:1-3) . Jesus is the burning bush (Matthew 17: 1-8) .

Climb the ladder of Salvation to upgrade your understanding of God

Divinity cannot be tested; only humanity can. But our Creator wanted his creatures to test him so he could reveal himself to us in the results of the test. So, Jesus weaved the following threads of truth into the very fabric of reality itself.

→ Bottom Rung: Jesus doffed his invincible armor of divinity and donned our fragile uniform of flesh and blood (Luke 2:1-14) ,. The Son of God became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering.

→ Middle Rung: Dressed like us, Jesus entered the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection where we baptized him (Matthew 3:13-17) in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) ,

→ Top Rung: The evil that we did to him in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) opened the floodgates of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) . Through his bloody wounds, the sweet syrup of love in the form of forgiveness poured into the Valley of Tears to dilute its toxicity in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. It irrigates the barren soil of the Valley of Tears and, thereby, initiates the process of transforming the Valley of Tears into the gardens of the new Eden (Isaiah 51:3) (Isaiah 61:4) (2 Corinthians 5:17) (Genesis 2:8-9) . The greater was the evil that we did to him, the more astonishing is the intransigence of his love for us. It gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It is the agent of our transformation - the catalyst of our conversion. We ask ourselves, "Who is this God who loves us so much that he willingly entered the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) in order to show God to us through the vehicle of forgiveness?"

These are the steps in the apocalyptic process that Jesus choreographed to reveal God to us - to give us the best approximation of God here on earth. By climbing the ladder of salvation rung by rung, we catch a glimpse of our transcendent God from here in the Valley of Tears.

An upgraded understanding of God is the point and place of beginning of evangelization.

The Victory

What was the victory that Jesus won and where, exactly, did he win it?

Evil was driven out of heaven and precipitously cast down into the Valley of Tears (Revelation 12:7-12) (Luke 10:18) (Isaiah 14:12-16). Evil was evicted but not defeated. The war against evil was incomplete. Only the venue had changed from up there to down here. God dispatched his dearly beloved Son, Jesus, to pursue evil into the Valley of Tears (Luke 2:1-20).

To prepare for battle, Jesus did something unexpected - something unprecedented - something radical. He did something that no human general going into battle would do. He disarmed. He made himself vulnerable. He doffed his invincible armor of divinity, donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood and, dressed like us, entered the scrum at the line of scrimmage. The Son of God became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering.

Why?

By means of flesh and blood, Jesus would reveal God to us. Flesh and blood was the medium in which the artist, Jesus, worked. Jesus painted the self-portrait of God on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection in the pigments of his flesh and blood. Being human, we appreciate the value of flesh and blood. Flesh and blood are dear to us. Jesus would leverage our appreciation of flesh and blood into a better understanding of God - into a high fidelity understanding of the reality of God. Jesus would put his own flesh and blood on the chopping block so he could give us God's answer to the evil that we would do to him. The answer that Jesus gave us to the evil that we did to him was forgiveness (Luke 23:34) . Forgiveness for the evil that we did to him was the vehicle that Jesus used to illuminate the darkness of our understanding of God. Through the gateway of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) , Jesus conveys us into the mind of God. Forgiveness for the evil that we did to Jesus is the Good News of Great Joy.

Since the dawn of humanity, the serpent, jealous of God's love for us, has plotted to extinguish it. The serpent held the opinion that God made a mistake by including humanity within the scope of his love and by blessing us with the sweet fruits of his love.

At Eden, the serpent reasoned, if he could induce Adam and Eve to abdicate the gift of paradise for godlessness, surely their ingratitude would extinguish God's love for humanity. The serpent's plot failed. God continued to love us nonetheless.

On the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, the serpent tried one last time to persuade God that he had made a mistake. The serpent reasoned, if he could induce the children of Adam and Eve to torture and kill the Son of God, surely this grievous insult to the very person of the Son of God while he was human, alive, tender, vulnerable and our guest in the Valley of Tears would extinguish God's love for humanity. Again, the serpent's plot failed. God continued to love us nonetheless.

By baptizing Jesus in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we discovered that the dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil that we did to him could budge it.

The greater was the evil that we did to the God who loves us, the more astonishing is the intransigence of his love for us.

God was revealed to us in the victory that Jesus won on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. He earned his victory by clinging to his love for us, holding tight and refusing to let go despite the evil that we did to him. The evil that we did to the God who loves us did not extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree. Now, that's a victory!

Don’t tell us what you found; show us where to look.

Don’t tell us what you found; show us where to look. The scientific method holds that by exploring the same location for ourselves, we ought to make the same discoveries. In other words, for discoveries to be valid, they must be reproducible. The same premise must give rise to the same conclusion over and over again. Christianity, when done properly, is an evidence based scientific endeavor. The premise that underlies Christianity is found on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. Forage for the knowledge of God on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection.

Stop trying to spoon-feed the children of Adam and Eve

What is the best way to fill the gap in our understanding of God? Is it better for the Church to figure it out for us or for us to figure it out for ourselves? Shall the Church spoon feed us as if we were infants or shall we feed ourselves as adults? Do we benefit when the Church puts the puzzle together for us or when we are given the pieces and we put them together ourselves? Should the Church be the tour guide who points out the sights to see along the way as we explore the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God for ourselves or shall the Church explore the sights to see for us on our behalf and expect us to live vicariously through the Church? In medieval times, when the Church tried to ram doctrine down our throats, we docilely swallowed it. The Church has taught us to read, write and think for ourselves. In modern times, when the Church tries to ram doctrine down our throats, our reaction is different. The act of ramming doctrine down our throats triggers our gag reflex. We tend to regurgitate it. In an age where the children of Adam and Eve read, write and think for themselves, the Church needs to adjust its behavior. In modernity, the Church needs to appeal to our faculty of rationality instead of to our faculty of obedience. It needs to reaquaint itself with the techniques of persuasion.

God who loves us wants to be with us in thick and thin

A story is told about St. Teresa of Ávila being thrown from her horse into the mud. The Saint exclaimed, “If this is how You treat your friends, it is no wonder You have so few!” The story must be apocryphal because it depicts a saint who does not understand. Changing our hostile circumstances is not the priority of God. Depetrifying our loveless hearts (Ezekiel 36:26) is his priority and purpose. God does not throw us into the muddy pit. God pulls us out (Matthew 12:11) . Jesus was not sent from heaven to earth to aggravate our dire predicament in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . He was sent to mitigate our dire predicament (John 12:47) . Our God wants to roll in the mud with us. He wants to share in our afflictions. Something happens to us when we are conscious of the fact that Jesus rolls in the mud with us - when Jesus is seated next to us on the roller coaster of life. The mud no longer matters. The only thing that matters is being with Jesus - the God who loves us. It is a grievous misconception that Jesus want us to share in his suffering. The serpent, not Jesus, wants us to share in his suffering. Jesus wants to share our suffering with him. He wants us to let him help us to pick up and carry our crosses across the finish line and into the kingdom of God (Matthew 16:24-26) . The God who loves us wants to be with us through thick and thin. Indeed, Jesus is really present in our lives. However, his real presence is not enough. The mere presence without one added detail is inconsequential. Don't just recognize and acknowledge the mere presence of Jesus in our lives. Recognize and acknowledge why he is really present. He is really present because he loves us.

Our job is to reintroduce the Christian understanding of God into the Valley of Tears as Jesus did on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection.

The charisma of Christianity is not found in the stultifying codex of official rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole of the Church. It is not found in religion. It is not found in morality. It is not found in the Church. It is found in the knowledge of God - an understanding of God upgraded by what took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection.

Through his gentle answer to the brutal evil that we did to him, Jesus revealed God to us. His gentle answer is the light that illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany (John 8:12) (Genesis 1:3-5) (John 1:4-9) . Are you privy to his gentle answer? Can you articulate it? Do you have the words? Surprisingly, Jesus forgave us for the brutal evil that we did to him (Luke 23:34) . His gift of forgiveness was gratuitous, unconditional and complete. He gave us a full pardon. He forgave us even though we did not deserve forgiveness. His gentle answer to our brutal evil is the strongest force on earth. The gravity of his gentle answer pulls the children of Adam and Eve into orbit around Jesus. Evangelization, when done right, exposes the children of Adam and Eve to the gravity of his gentle answer. While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . He did not wait for our conversion before he forgave us (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 22:10) (Matthew 7:6) (John 8:10 -11) . He forgave us to bring about our conversion. Jesus took the first step in the hope that we would take the second. Our God gave us a second chance - a do over. We did not deserve forgiveness. Yet, our God forgave us anyway. That Jesus went out on a limb for us is the audaciousness of God's plan to rescue us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears. Audacity is the hallmark of our God.

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32) .

Misconceptions are not harmless. They are dangerous. Any distortion of the truth is a threat.

All is Not Well

"Brothers and sisters, Christendom no longer exists!" (Pope Francis Saturday, 21 December 2019) .

"From the crisis of today the Church of tomorrow will emerge — a Church that has lost much. She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity."

“The Church will be a more spiritual Church, not presuming upon a political mandate, flirting as little with the Left as with the Right. It will be hard going for the Church, for the process of crystallization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy."

"But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church." (Pope Benedict as quoted in Aleteia 06/13/2016) .

N.B. Love as Jesus disclosed to us on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection will be at the heart of "a more spiritualized and simplified Church"

The Church gets the answer to the question, 'Which comes first? The chicken or the egg?, wrong

Which comes first? the chicken or the egg? The Church insists that we convert in order to receive the sacraments. They cite (1 Corinthians 11:27) . Jesus, however, held a contrary opinion. He thought audaciously (Isaiah 55:8-9) . While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . He did not wait for our conversion before he forgave us (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 22:10) (Matthew 7:6) (John 8:10 -11) . He forgave us to bring about our conversion. Jesus took the first step in the hope that we would take the second. Our God gave us a second chance - a do over. We did not deserve forgiveness. Yet, our God forgave us anyway. The hallmark of our God is that he does not give us what we deserve. He gives us more than we deserve. He gives us what we do not merit.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? God holds the opinion that forgiveness preceeds repentance. Forgiveness is the catalyst of conversion. The Church holds a different opinion. The Church holds the opinion that repentance preceeds forgiveness. Which is the cause? Which is the effect? The answer is important because the answer determines where the Church ought to deploy her resources. The path to an effect passes through its cause. To influence an effect, one must control its cause. So, whose opinion is correct? God's or the Church's?

[Hint: Unconditionally forgiving us for the evil that we did to him while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) before we had repented (Matthew 22:10) is the audacious part of God's plan to rescue us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears. He threw the holy pearls of forgiveness to the dogs and swine to elevate them from the level of the most miserable and hideous of loveless beasts to the level of our loving God. (Matthew 7:6) . Only love begets love. Repentance, and other salubrious changes, are the fruit of unconditional forgiveiness. God didn't make a mistake in his methodolgy of transforming the world. Reversing the sequence of salvation turns God's audacious plan into a tawdry transaction - a cheap tit-for-tat. God's forgiveness of us is not contingent. It is unconditional. God doesn't withhold forgiveness from us. The Church does.]

Jesus broke the mold for kingship

Jesus is our king. His kingdom is at hand. He is not the typical king and his kingdom is not the typical kingdom. He broke the mold for kingship. He is not the king who rules us. He is the king who loves us. In place of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole, the means by which he governs us is love. In the kingdom of the king who loves us, the citizens govern themselves. We desire to please him. We trip all over ourselves in our eagerness to please him. Wow! Where do I sign up? How do I enlist? How do I join the kingdom of the King who loves sinners like me (Romans 5:8)

Witness versus King

The testimony of a witness reveals God to us (John 1:7) . "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth" (John 18:37) . A king does not give testimony. Regulation is the domain of a king. Revelation is the domain of a witness. What testimony are you giving to help us perfect our understanding of God? Spend less time regulating and more time revealing. More witness, less king. Most clerics are blind to the difference.

The Beauty of of God

Jesus showed us the beauty of God on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection in a lopsided transaction in which the odd couple of epiphany, evil and forgiveness, consummated a radically asymmetric marriage. He gave us a glimpse of paradise from here on earth. The God whom Jesus showed to us is an attractive God. His peerless beauty draws the children of Adam and Eve to him. The Church, however, is masking the beauty of God with tawdry makeup. It is disfiguring the face of God with self-serving graffiti. It must stop. It must realize that its bizarre attempts to embellish the beauty of God are futile and counter-productive. They drive us away from God and, hence, away from the Church. It must start to present the beauty of God to the children of Adam and Eve as Jesus did - without embellishments.

The engine that pulls us into the arms of God is the radically asymmetric and extraordinarily surprising answer that Jesus gave us to the evil that we did to him. The gravity of his answer is the strongest force in heaven and on earth. It pulls us into orbit around Jesus. Are you privy to his answer? Can you articulate it? Do you have the words?

It was figured out that the best way to show God to the children of Adam and Eve was through the vehicle of forgiveness. Forgiveness gives us the best approximation of God. Forgiveness opens a window into the mind of God.

We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made him suffer and die. Yet, he forgave us for the evil that we did to him (Luke 23:34) . Forgiveness (Luke 23:34) is the bridge (John 14:6) that Jesus built to span the pit (Luke 16:26) that we dug in our relationship with our God. Paradise is not found at the bottom of the pit but at the far side of the bridge. Our job is to stop digging the pit and to start crossing the bridge. By building the bridge of forgiveness, Jesus gave us a second chance - a do over. It is up to us, however, to take advantage of the opportunity that Jesus extends to us.

Into a lopsided transaction, Jesus deposited the knowledge of God

A lopsided transaction took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. The lopsided transaction was the vehicle that Jesus used to reveal God to us. It conveyed the knowledge of God to the children of Adam and Eve. The lopsided transaction was the stage through which Jesus gave us a glimpse of God. The purpose of the lopsided transaction was to showcase Jesus's answer to the evil that we did to him. In his answer, Jesus revealed God to us.

The transaction was lopsided in two ways:

1) the parties to the transaction were unequal. On one side of the transaction was our Creator and on the other side were his creatures.

2) The quid pro quos of the transaction were unequal. On one side of the transaction was the evil that we did to him and on the other side was his forgiveness of us (Luke 23:34) .

The radical asymmetry between us and our God (Isaiah 55:8-9) is revealed by the radical asymmetry of the lopsided transacion that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection.

God's rescue of us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears was audacious. While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . He did not wait for our conversion before he forgave us (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 22:10) (Matthew 7:6) (John 8:10 -11) . He forgave us to bring about our conversion. Jesus took the first step in the hope that we would take the second. Our God gave us a second chance - a do over. We did not deserve forgiveness. Yet, our God forgave us anyway. The audaciousness of the gift of gratuitous, unconditional and undeserved forgiveness gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) . It is the agent of our transformation - the catalyst of our conversion.

When we showed Jesus our worst, Jesus showed us his best.

Are you privy to the transaction? Do you appreciate its significance? What insight does the transaction give us into the mind of God (Isaiah 55:8-9) ?

The transaction was a breakthrough in our understanding of God.

Jesus Shifted the Paradigm - Radically

At the center of the garden of Eden was the tree of life (Genesis 2:8-9) . At the center of the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection also stands the tree of life. Jesus is the tree of life (Revelation 22:2) at the center of the garden of the new Eden (Isaiah 51:3) . Adam and Eve took the fruit from the tree of life even though the fruit did not belong to them and they suffered the consequences of their disobedience. The children of Adam and Eve took the fruit from the tree of life on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurretion even though the fruit did not belong to them, yet, they have not suffered any adverse consequences. Why? What is the difference? The difference is that Jesus forgave us (Luke 23:34) . He issued us a pardon. He turned his flesh and blood into our food and drink. In so doing, Jesus transformed murderers into dinner companions - a sacrifice into a banquet - an ignoble defeat into a glorious victory. Jesus radically shifted the paradigm. He shifted it from keeping us from the fruit of the tree of life (Genesis 3:3) (Genesis 3:22-26) to encouraging us to consume it (Matthew 26:26-28) (Jeremiah 2:13) . To know forgiveness is to know love (Luke 6:43-45) . To know love is to know God (1 John 4:8) . To know God is to have eternal life (John 17:3) .

Note: At the center of the Mass also stands the tree of life. At Mass, we take his flesh and blood even though his flesh and blood do not belong to us. At Mass, Jesus forgives us for taking his flesh and blood even though we do not deserve forgiveness. While we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , Jesus loved us first (1 John 4:19) . He did not wait for our conversion before he forgave us (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 22:10) (Matthew 7:6) (John 8:10 -11) . He forgave us to bring about our conversion. Jesus took the first step in the hope that we would take the second. We did not deserve forgiveness. Yet, our God forgave us anyway.

We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We nailed him to a cross where he hung until death. We baptized him in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . Therefore, when the God who loves us gave us the gratuitous and unconditional gift of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) , he surprised us. The surprise gobsmacked us. It knocked us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . Our understanding of God was dead. The radical asymmetry (Isaiah 55:8-9) of his gentle answer and the brutal evil that we did to him resurrected our understanding of God from the dead (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) . Our God is different than us and other gods (1 Samuel 2:2) (Deuteronomy 4:7)

Kindness greeted hostility.

Capturing the butterfly of transcendence

The butterfly of transcendence is not easily captured by our small, immanent nets. It flies beyond our reach. Imagine what we would discover about God if we could capture the butterfly of transcendence, put it into a container and study it? To make this happen, our God donated a sample of transcendence to us. The container that holds God's donation is the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection.

Making transcendence immanent was not easy. In fact, the donation of a sample of transcendence required the creation of a strange, new, chimeric entity - the oxymoron of vulnerability and divinity - a divine / human hybrid. The Son of God became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. He doffed his invincible armor of divinity and donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood. Dressed like us, he entered the "game" (Centerfield) . He dove headfirst into the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) . There we baptized him. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. We nailed him to a cross where he hung until death. Thus, our evil set the stage for God's greatest achievement and his most apocalyptic revelation. Our evil had begun revelation. However, the evil that we did to Jesus did not complete it. God's answer to the evil that we did to him completed the revelation. It revealed God to us. In his answer, God forgave us. The God who loves us gave us the gift of forgiveness (Luke 23:34) . (Matthew 5: 38-48) (Matthew 18:21-35) even though we did not deserve forgiveness. Forgiveness was the vehicle that Jesus used to show us transcendence. To know forgiveness is to know love (Luke 6:43-45) . To know love is to know God (1 John 4:8) . To know God is to have eternal life (John 17:3) (John 3:16).

To rescue us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears, God could have dispatched a subordinate. He could have sent a flunky. But He did not. The job was so important that God did the job Himself (Matthew 21:33-40) . Moreover, he included a baptism in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) in his choreography of the lopsided transaction that would take place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. He wouldn't permit anybody but himself to be baptized in it. He wanted to spare them of the trauma. To make himself subject to the trauma of the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10) , Jesus did something unexpected - something unprecedented - something radical. He disarmed. He made himself vulnerable. He doffed his invincible armor of divinity, donned our frail uniform of flesh and blood and, dressed like us, entered the scrum at the line of scrimmage. The Son of God became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering. The lion became the lamb. He put a target on his own back. He invited us to do evil to him because he wanted to show us God's answer to evil. He hoped that his answer to evil would become our answer to evil - would become the standard. He hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from ours.

"In the sun, feel the heat,
and the odor of my smelly feet.
All people squeezing their nose,
from the cheese between my toes."
Smelly Foot by Allen Wilbert

Rally ‘round the transcendent God who was willing to wash our dirty and stinky feet (John 13:1-17) (Matthew 10:29-31)  . Who expects such menial service from our transcendant God? Why would our transcendant God stoop so low? Perhaps, because he loves us? Could such a humble, loving God also be the same God who designed and created hell? Is our God a sadist or a philanthropist? Surely, he is not both?

Note: I am not declaring that hell does not exist. I am suggesting that our humble, loving God did not create it and does not put us there. Something else is going on that has nothing to do with our humble, loving God.

The road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the container that holds the answer that Jesus gave us to the evil that we did to him. We tortured and killed the God who loves us. We made the God who loves us suffer and die. Yet, he forgave us (Luke 23:34) . Indeed, the transaction that took place in the container was radically lopsided - radically asymmetric. Our evil and his forgiveness are the odd couple of epiphany. The greater was the evil that we did to Jesus, the sweeter is his answer to it. Forgiveness for the evil that we did to him was the vehicle that Jesus used to transport us to the sweetness of God. For first Holy Communion, distribute designer bars of chocolate. The chocolate represents the sweetness of God. On the front wrapper print in big block letters, "The Road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection". Underneath in smaller letters, print "Made with Love". On the back of the wrapper, print "Jesus revealed God to us on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection by answering the evil that we did to him with forgiveness (Luke 23:34) . Forgiveness is one of the sweet fruits of love. Isn't a tree known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45) ? To know forgiveness is to know love (Luke 6:43-45) . To know love is to know God (1 John 4:8) . To know God is to have eternal life (John 17:3) . This will instruct the children and remind the adults.

The Audacity of God's Rescue Plan

The audacity of God's plan to rescue us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears was that Jesus, while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) , loved us first (1 John 4:19) . He did not wait for our conversion before he forgave us (Romans 5:8) (Matthew 22:10) (Matthew 7:6) (John 8:10 -11) . He forgave us to bring about our conversion. Jesus took the first step in the hope that we would take the second. We did not deserve forgiveness. Yet, our God forgave us anyway. The gratuitous and unconditional gift of undeserved forgiveness gobsmacks us. It knocks us off our horse (Acts 9:4) . It vivifies us. It brings the dead to life (Luke 15:32) (John 3:3) . It is the agent of our transformation - the catalyst of our conversion. So why isn't the Church as audacious as Jesus? Why has the Church reversed the policy that Jesus establish? Why does the Church require conversion before forgiveness? Why does the Church take the position that Jesus made a mistake?

The Church is Audacity Lite

The Church lacks the audacity of Jesus. Jesus took the first step in the hope that we would take the second. He forgave us for the evil that we did to him even though we did not deserve forgiveness. Jesus held the opinion that forgiveness is the catalyst of our conversion. The Church, however, thinks that Jesus made a mistake. The Church does not share Jesus's confidence in the power of forgiveness to transform the children of Adam and Eve from sinners into saints. Hence, the Church rations forgiveness by imposing strict conditions upon it. It is parsimonious in distributing God's grace. It requires conversion first. For the Church, it is all about the sin; for Jesus, it is all about the forgiveness. Jesus wielded the axe of forgiveness to sever the connection between the evil that we did to him and the three-headed monster of revenge, retaliation and retribution that dwells in the human heart. A cleric who imitates Jesus uses the axe of forgiveness to sever us and our sins. Forgiveness cleaves us and our sins in twain. The evil that we did to Jesus opened the floodgates of forgiveness in his body. The sweet syrup of forgiveness poured through his bloody wounds to dilute the toxicity of the Valley of Tears in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of bad coffee. Forgiveness is the sweet syrup that drenches the sinner and separates him from his sin. It is to be gratuitously and unconditionally given to all who seek it. "[F]reely ye have received [the gift of forgiveness from Jesus], freely give" (Matthew 10:8) . "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils" (Matthew 10:8) . Jesus did not instruct his apostles to impose conditions for the performance of these and similar services.

The error of self-styled orthodox Christians is that they divorce the tree from its fruit (Luke 6:43-45) , the cause from the effect. They focus on the fruit and not the tree, the effect not the cause. They make no investment into the cultivation of the tree, yet they expect the tree to produce sweet fruit. Cultivate the tree and the fruit takes care of itself. Love is the tree. The tree of love produce sweet fruit "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8) . “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them" (Matthew 5:17). "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10) .

The Church is the Ice Cream Truck passing down a hot summer street ringing its bell and handing out its product to the children of Adam and Eve free of charge. "[F]reely ye have received [the gift of forgiveness from Jesus], freely give" (Matthew 10:8) . "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils" (Matthew 10:8) . Jesus did not instruct his apostles to impose conditions for the performance of these and similar services. Instead, the Church charges a price. It rations the gifts instead of distributing them. It does not give the gifts freely to all that seek them.