The Fall of Man and Kathy Griffin

LAST FRIDAY when having breakfast with my friend Adam we came to the topic of being strangers on this earth. We weren't talking of being foreign nationals or illegal immigrants but of the fact that as Christians we stand out so much against the world (or at least we should) that we feel as strangers on this earth, rejected from the things of the world because our view is on something higher. We spoke of America, we spoke of materialism, and we spoke of Malibu.

How fallen man really is...

This morning I woke up to see a headline on my computer that stated, "Kathy Griffin's Jesus Profanity Stirs Outrage". Upon reading the article, I found that at the Emmy's, Kathy Griffin, in response to many stars thanking Jesus, proclaimed, "Suck it, Jesus. This award is my God now!". The article itself goes on to state how Christian groups were outraged but that many groups got a nice "giggle" out of the whole thing, making the Christians reaction sound ridiculous and the whole thing like a big joke.

Kathy Griffin just told the Son of Man to put a penis in his mouth....and the news article is surprised that people are UPSET!? How fallen are we?!

As my anger started to calm a little after I read the article, I instantly thought of the Danish cartoonist who portrayed the prophet Mohammad with a bomb as his turban and how Muslims all over the world started riots out of anger of the insult. I thought to myself, why don't Christians stand up and openly fight and more strongly express their anger about such things? In a world where when you walk into Urban Outfitters and you see the image of Jesus on flasks, shirts and action figures, why don't we get more upset? Is it out of lack of passion? Lack of love? Fear? Has the worldliness and insult of the world become so strong and so severe that when an open mockery of our savior is made, we find it necessary to keep silent out of embarrassment for our beliefs? Why do we do nothing?

Yesterday I was reading the book of Peter. In it Peter says,

"Dear friend, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us....Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing"

It was in this passage that I realized the answer to my own question: the reason we do nothing is because we are called to do nothing; not nothing in the sense of being passive but nothing in the sense of refusing to retaliate. Kathy Griffin helped me realize just how much a stranger I am in this world.

I sit here and I am surrounded by amazing buildings and wealth yet see nothing but movie sets and dust. I live in a world where people are given golden statues of man to congratulate themselves for being good liars; where drunkenness is entertainment and sin is bliss. I see it all and I see how lost we really are. I see it all and I see how fallen we really are. I see it all and I thank God that I have become a stranger in this world.

In response to Kathy Griffin, I realized I should not feel anger but sorrow and hope that she one day realizes the gravity of the statement she made. I am absolutely insulted by her comments but I do nothing because I am called to do nothing. It is my job to respond not in anger, but in love.

This is my job as a Christian. This is my job as a disciple. This is my job as a stranger.

-Theophilus

Nothing In Return

To all who read this who are loved by God and called to follow His commands: May you find truth in these words-

God chooses the most amazing ways to communicate his message to me. Over these last weeks since coming back, God has been consistently putting people in my life to take care of me, fill my life with love, and to show me that He is always there for me, never abandoning me and making sure that I am well. But today something happened that in a way was more profound than any other experience that has taken place over the last few weeks. Today, someone gave me dinner for free.

It is not bizarre at all I believe to read this as a wonderful act, to be thankful for the random kindness of a stranger, to enjoy something that God chose to bless me with and bless the person through whom the food was given. These are all things I think any rational person would do upon such a nice thing as this happening to them. But beyond this basic understanding and thankfulness of receiving such a blessing, God chose this incident to reveal to me something that is often very hard for me to understand: humbleness.

Often when something is given to us, we feel the pressing need to give something back in return. Or even more serious, when we give something ourselves, how often is it that we expect something in return? One might say, "I never ask for anything in return!" but the truth of the matter is we all do. What we ask for is not something physical, or something material at all, no. It is something so much more obscure, passive and in a way, unnoticeable. In fact we even disguise our need for reparation in our societal norms, calling them manners and etiquette. What I am talking about, this reparation of which I speak, is recognition. Even if we never demand any favor or material return, we at least expect a thank you, or in easier terms, recognition for what we have done. Because of this need for reparation, because of our need to be recognized, giving is no longer the selfless act it should be, but becomes a way for us to feel good about ourselves. Giving is no longer about loving others, but about finding a reason to love ourselves.

The reason that me being given something free today was so, in a way, shocking to me was because the man who gave to me wanted absolutely nothing in return. In fact, the situation was such that I couldn't give the man something back even if I wanted to. I almost felt bad at first because I was not able to repay him in some way. But then I began to think and I realized, if I feel I need to repay him in some way, is what I have been given really free?

All of a sudden it struck me that the reason I felt so uncomfortable with the situation was because I had actually just witnessed a genuine act of love. All of which came from a complete stranger. Upon searching for other motives I found that there were none. There was no one else around for him to brag to, there was no incentive within his business to give food away free, and he will probably never see me again so he definitely was not trying to earn a favor. So why did he do this random act of kindness? Because of love.

Though God has been doing amazing things in my life these last few weeks and revealing himself to me in so many ways, this random act of kindness was a major message to me and reminder of what Christ's greatest commandment is to us: to love one another. The experience was exceptionally humbling also because I realized that to really love we must ask nothing in return. This is so against everything we have ever been taught but really it makes so much sense. We always want recognition for what we do, whether it be material or verbal. But that should not be to the motive for doing good. If that is the motive, then we show nothing but selfishness and greed. The motive for doing good instead should be the joy in following the greatest commandment of God: to love one another. If we help a man and expect reparation, we do not love him but love ourself. And by giving ourself credit and loving ourself, we deny God's blessings and thus do not love God. If we help a man and truly in our hearts want nothing in return, then we are truly following God's command, loving others and loving God.

The truth of God lies in love. If we love then God's truth is revealed to us for love is Truth and Truth is God. To know love is to know Truth, and to know Truth is to know God.

May your hearts be filled with holy love and through that love may truth come down. I pray that I may be pure of intention and open to the word of God at all times. But more than all, I pray that I may love as I am loved.

In the love of Christ,

Theophilus

And so I begin...

Dear Faithful Readers,

Well as many of you know, I have just returned from a life changing experience in Africa. During those three months in Africa, God worked amazing miracles in my life, transforming me in ways I never thought possible. Not only did God reveal the true me during this experience, He also revealed Himself. The scales have fallen. I have become a child of light.

But now I am back. My life is changed. I am changed. But my world has not. Needless to say, adjustment has been difficult. The old me died in Ghana. I was reborn. But now I am thrown back into the world of my past and struggling to find my way. It is not easy....at all.

So now I begin a new adventure. I now start a new life as a new person. Though the stage is the same, the players are different and the challenges are new. So I write. For all of you who followed my adventures in Africa, now begins my adventure in America, no longer as Mike Masten, but as Theophilus. This is the story of change. This is the story of challenge. This is the story of self discovery and finding my place in a world that I no longer belong to.

This is my adventure....and it begins now.

-Theophilus