Perception is Reality

The phrase "Perception is Reality" was originally stated, I believe in the Reagan era, to describe a lack of honest and complete communication in national politics.  Then it was stated literally.  And some accept it as literal.

Jesus was and is no stranger to politics during his life, death and resurrection. And the distorted communication of the past lives on to today.

I invite you to read the post, 

https://i-m-4-u.com/2013/09/11/perception-is-reality-lee-atwater-is-mr-atwaters-statement-a-perception-or-reality-jim-mcnaughton/ 

or 

go in the archives 2013/09/11 of this site.

In it I try to describe the difference between the "official" public perception and reality.

Nobody’s perfect (part II)

I am part of a team of people starting “HOPE” for Mental Health at Kentwood Community Church.  We are part of Celebrate Recovery founded by Rick Warren of Saddleback Church.  This group of courageous people, who admit their imperfections and trust Jesus to deliver them, have been a catalyst to me being able to confess my sins to another trusted person (or small group).  I read my Nobody’s Perfect post from August of 2013 tonight and realized I had promised to get back to you when I had put this into practice.

Much better late than never.

I had told Jesus my sins but telling another person with skin on freed me from most of the grip of satan in my life.  No amount of prayer has freed me as much as telling my sin to another person.  Sin loses power when exposed.

I have known for years that I was “supposed to” confess my sins to another.  But I made excuses and told myself it really didn’t matter.  I lost years of my life to satan’s influence simply because “I know more than God.”

God is not mocked.  I reaped what I sowed.

But I have learned.

Hopefully.

Visit http://i-m-4-u.com/

Visit http://i-m-4-u.com/ for uncensored hope-filled past and future posts about my relationship with Jesus, my relationship with mental illness and the combination of both.

I will continue to post everything here, but some posts in the past have been censored.  (Google will not tell me why).  All post will be at http://i-m-4-u.com/ including the uncensored posts.  Thank you for reading.  And if you know why the posts are being censored please let me know.

Jim McNaughton, Bachelor of Science, Certified Peer Support Specialist

If not now then when?

(My apologies for not giving credit to those I have learned from who have written on this).

We don't control anything in life, except our decisions.
The Past in unchangeable,
The Future, we can prepare for, but not control,
And the Present we know incompletely, and what we do know can be distorted.

And, the only decisions you and I can control are those we are making right now.
Past decisions have made us who we are today,
Future decisions will either be made by us when the future becomes now,
or those future decisions will be made by others if we can't make them.

What you are deciding right now is in your control and all you control.

But it is the birthplace of Hope.

The negative past can't stop us.  It can inform our decision and influence our decision but cannot dictate our decision.  We are free to change.

The positive past does not guarantee a positive decision.  Again, it can inform and influence our decision, but we are free to fail.

The present decision opportunity is the key to using the past to make a better future.

And, the future can be changed radically by one decision.

The most radically changing decision I have ever made is to follow Jesus.

When I follow Jesus I feel more alive than I have ever felt.  He gives me purpose and significance.  He provides for my needs.  He loves me.  My love for him is shown by the way I treat the people he has made... and died for.  He died for you because he loves you too.  And you are just one decision away from knowing his love for you.  Please decide to love him back right now.  It's the only chance you have.

Confict? Old and New Testament concerning "Did God pass the "test"? (posted Sunday 9/29/13)

Three years ago our family double tithed (gave 20% of our income) for the month of September.  I got the job of my dreams and many other things happened that were wonderful.  Then I listen to Andrew Farley's interpretation of tithing more recently: The New Testament Church is not given a command to obey the Law or to tithe.  We are commanded to love, by walking with and keeping in step with the Spirit.  Specifically relating to giving we are told to give generously what we want to give, not under compulsion; that is, with joy.  So is the New Testament in conflict with the Old Testament?

Not at all.

Jesus said, "It is for freedom I have set you free."  And, "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."  The Law was a fixed command.  But now Jesus and God live in us by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus can tell us exactly what He wants, He can customize His will to our unique situation.  And we can freely choose to do what He wants us to do.  And reap the positive consequences of obeying the One Who Loves Us Most.

Until Jesus tells me otherwise, we will tithe (out of our own free will).  Not because we feel obligated by law.  But because we love Jesus.

Hopes for Heaven

I think that what is most important to God in the Bible is what is going to be most important to God in heaven.  Treating every person with the highest possible respect and love will be just breaking even.  No awards... We will have only done what is expected.

I also believe the quality and intensity of our emotions will increase.  When I told God I was not a sinner the second time, he burned with anger.  His anger was pure and intense.  I believe God is more "human" than we are (the good qualities of being human that is).  My emotions are just a shadow of God's.  I believe our bodies, made of the dust of the earth, can't contain emotions like God's.  And they will be replaced by spiritual bodies, able to feel like God feels.

I believe we will recognize each other, just as Jesus was recognized in his spiritual body (eventually) when he was with his disciples (after being raised from the dead).  I believe I will have full memory of my life and the people in it and I will have great joy in telling others about what Jesus did for me (as I do now).  I believe I will also have the joy of listening to others tell how Jesus engineered their circumstances and they too came to know the truth - that Jesus loves them.

I believe the instant I die Jesus will lovingly take me and hold me in his arms; like a shepherd holds a sheep that was almost lost.  And he will tell me that he loves me, that he has always loved me, and that he is glad I am finally home with him.  And we can love each other face-to-face.

I'm okay, but you?

I interact every day with the mentally ill and the developmentally delayed.  I struggled with surface impressions that suggest people whose brains are not working right are less than me somehow.  Then, without me knowing it, my brain started to not work right.  And people couldn't "see me" anymore.  They saw mental illness.

And they locked me out of their hearts.

One writer jolted me with the observation that the Bible teaches that our "minds" go to heaven while our brains are buried.  His conclusion is that the brain is an interface between the physical world and our minds.  This suggests that though we may have an defective brain, our mind is whole.  Our mind "sees" the world through the distorted brain and makes decisions, etc. based on inaccurate data.  But when we get to heaven we will see that the person we thought was less than us was in fact just the same as us.  They were simply dealing with life through a distorted lens.

When I meet that person in heaven, without defect, and with full memory of how I treated them, how comfortable will I be?

When satan works through "christians" Part 2

I don't know if it is clear from "When satan works through "christians" (Part 1)" what I believe about abortion.  I believe a person is a person at conception.  I believe God already has a beautiful life planned out for them before they are even conceived.  The "theologian" Theodore Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) has a character Horton who has big ears and can hear the tiniest sounds.  After investigating a speck, that others thought had no life, Horton found life and declared, "A person's a person, no matter how small."  He was persecuted for defending life.

When does a person become a person?  Is it when the Supreme Court declares it is? (Not until born).  Is it when the baby can survive on its own? (That changes when technology changes).  When it has a heart beat, fingerprints, or brain function? (Less than 10 weeks?).  When do you say?

The most honest answer from a staunch pro-abortionist I have heard is, "I don't know."  I said, "then if you don't know if it is a person or not, wouldn't it makes sense to say, 'I don't know if you are a person or not, just in case you are a person, I'm not going to kill you.' "

That is how I feel about abortion, not the people involved.  If a woman doesn't know Jesus she can feel desperately alone with her decision.  She doesn't know where help can come from.  The father may be pressuring her to end the baby's life in order to escape his responsibility to the mother and his child.  She may not know that there are non-judgmental, loving Christians who will help her.  She may only know the hate-filled, condemning "christians" who are following satan.  And the doctor almost certainly doesn't know Jesus, and cannot share Jesus' desire for the baby's life.

Jesus does not judge these desperate people.  He died for them.  He loves them.  And I do too.  But His heart is grieved over what they have chosen to do with his unwelcome gift of a child.

Before I knew Jesus I honestly did not know when a person became a person.  What those-who-don't-know-Jesus need is our love, not condemnation.

It is His kindness that brings us to repentance.

Another Choice

If I ask God to do something, and He doesn't do it, I say, "Well, He must not exist."

If I ask for God to do something, and He does it, I say, "That would have happened anyway."

So exactly how is He supposed to reach me?  What can He do?

God will allow the natural pain of my own choices to drive me to another choice.

But I numb the pain with alcohol.

I am distracted from the pain with sex.

I blame others for the pain.

When nothing stops the pain, I see the other choice.

I can blame God for the natural pain of my own choices.

Or I can ask Him for help.

If I blame Him I am saying He is real, but He is evil.

If I ask Him for help, He will help.

Then I can say, "That would have happened anyway" and I would know I was lying when I said it. 

And the pain would begin again.

Or, I can say, "Thank you, my Heavenly Father, you are good and you are real."

And He will never leave me.

When satan works through "christians"

It has been reported that a close city has the most bowling alleys, bars, and churches per capita of any city in the USA.  I don't know if that is true but I definitely know we have a lot of churches.  We have a lot of Christians here, people who know Jesus personally and follow him daily.  What I am concerned about is those who say they are Christians, but don't follow Jesus.  They are driving away people who might otherwise come to know Jesus.  Let me explain.

There are Christians who pray at an abortion clinic.  They convey the unconditional love and acceptance of Jesus to the many times scared, vulnerable women who are dealing with the most important and difficult decision they may ever make.  But recently another kind of "christian" has been found outside the abortion clinic.  I have heard a first-hand account of someone being yelled at, being told they are going to hell, insulted, etc. while going into the clinic.  They were not pregnant, not considering an abortion, but nonetheless traumatized by the hatred of "christians."

When I heard this from her I apologized for the people using the Name of Christ as they acted contrary to the Will of Christ.  We agreed that Jesus would not have acted that way.  She is not a Christian however she understands Jesus far better than his supposed "followers."  She has said she hates Christians and I understand why.

There is a bumper sticker I have seen that I never experientially understood until now.  It read, "Dear Jesus, please save me from your followers."

Jesus anticipated this.  He said a tree is known by its fruit.  A good tree does not produce bad fruit, and a bad tree does not produce good fruit.  You will know them by their fruit.  These "christians" are producing bad fruit and Jesus says they are not his representatives.  He doesn't know them.

If you are investigating Jesus, remember, anyone can call themselves a Christian.  Real Christians aren't perfect and they will tell you they are not perfect.  But you should be able to sense the kindness and humility of Jesus from them; not a spirit of self-righteous condemnation.