The Christian Life in the Age of Fulfillment

Live from the Mecca of Mormonism SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, this is Heart of the MatterTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology. – Where we are working through together how to live the Christian life in the Age of Fulfillment – and I’m your host, Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion..

Reflections on Imagination

33A Imagine
Taped July 28th 2020
Aired August 3rd 2020
The Christian band, Mercy Me has a song that was made into a movie titled by the same, I can only Imagine.

Some of the lyrics say:

Surrounded by You glory?What will my heart feel?Will I dance for you Jesus?Or in awe of You be still?Will I stand in your presence?Or to my knees will I fall?Will I sing hallelujah?Will I be able to speak at all?I can only imagine?I can only imagine

I don’t really like the song not only because I have different musical tastes, but the words sort of offend me. Overall, they promote this idea that believers are waiting for a day when they will enter into heaven and THEN they will experience Jesus and his presence but the reality is we are and can experience him now – and we ought to aim for Him and His Kingdom abiding with us here. That is what I can only imagine – that here and now, as believers, we start to live in and with Him as the guide – not in some future state after deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. – now.

Reimagining the Christian Experience

What do you imagine life in and with Christ to look and be like after this life? Does it track along with the Mercy Me song meaning “Is it going to cause you to dance for Jesus” or do you imagine “worshipping him for ever and ever? As the song says?” I can’t relate to these descriptions, to be honest with you. I’m not much of a dancer and I’m not so sure that the object of our eternal existence is to worship Jesus forever and ever.

I guess what I am trying to say is it seems to me that the object of our eternities, made entirely possible by Jesus, will be very similar to the object of our lives here and now as His disciples. And imagination isn’t really necessary – Jesus said it himself, “the Kingdom of GodGod’s spiritual reign—fulfilled and present, not political or future. is within you.” He abides in us – now – and we abide in him. And if these things are the case, then let’s start imagining what ought to be happening here and now.

Imagining isn’t novel to Mercy Me. John Lennon talked about Imagining too. Ironcially, his lyrics, though impossible in this world to achive, were in my estimation geared to something better than dancing on clouds. And while I reject some of his lyrics as impossible and frankly humanist, I do appreciate when he sang:

Imagine the people living life in peace, you?You may say I'm a dreamer?But I'm not the only one?I hope some day you'll join us?And the world will be as one

Combining these two musical approaches to imagination, as a believer, what is your hope? What do YOU imagine? While I do not believe this world or its kingdom is in the possession of believers, I do believe that we ought to be able to imagine a better approach to the faith while we are here on earth. That we don’t have to wait to go to heaven to understand and experience Jesus, and that we can not only imagine but make the religious expressions of Christianity better.

Enhancing the Christian Faith

What do you imagine would make the faith better? Do you fancy, as the English say, more peace? Less alienation? More love? Or do you prefer to imagine more infighting, warfare, angry posts and division? Why do we imagine this peaceful, white-clouded heaven with harps and joy when we could take steps to have that between ourselves here – and now – since the Kingdom of God is in fact in us.

Oh, this place will never be perfect like heaven is described to be, but we can make it a whole lot better – as John Lennon said – “if we try.” See, if heaven is a place of peace, then as Christians we ought to remove the things from our fellowship that destroys peace. If heaven is a place of love, then we ought to do all that is humanly possible, with the Kingdom of Heaven in us, to love. If heaven is a place of burdens lifted, then shouldn’t we try and lift the burdens of others here?

I’m really not convinced that Jesus wants our imaginations to be on a future date where we can dance for him.

Living with Purpose and Freedom

I tend to think we honor him, dance for him, if you will, while we are alive and engaged in his purpose and cause now. So, what do you imagine could be possible now as a Christian, living in this world?

Five or six years ago we launched CAMPUS church and we did it to prove what can be done, what changes can be made, to bring about peace, love and the fruit of the Spirit among believers now. And while we read through and really study the word together, we have made it clear that all beliefs and ideas and opinions are welcome, that all people are welcome, that the faith of every individual is subjectively lived and understood, that I am not a pastor but I am a serving teacher, and that our goal is to pursue truth whenever possible.

Success and Challenges at CAMPUS

We have stuck to our guns with only a few exceptions over all of these years – one was when a person threatened the safety of others and the other has been when people have taken advantage of the freedom and left messes or tried to move in the building to live – things like that – and in those situations I have taken the lead and put a stop to such. Has our experiment at CAMPUS worked? Yes and no.

Beliefs and expressions have always been welcomed and allowed to be expressed and the people who show up are a very divergent group – so that has been a success. People have been able to use the building as they wish freely, there has never been a push or collection of money, yet God has provided, and a very diverse group of souls have been able to get along for the most part. Frankly, the experiment has been a fail to some extent because many people can’t handle such freedom in their lives – and/or they want more from their religion, they want restrictions, demands, dogma, and the like.

The Nature of Freedom in Faith

And because a great majority of people want this from their church the attendance has steadily declined – even though complete liberty exists in thought, expression and participation or lack thereof. All around us we have tens of thousands of souls gathering into LDS meeting houses only to be told how to live, what to eat and drink, how to be and how to think – evidence that human beings want to be in chains and under the authority of Man. And yet, we have done all we humanly can to make CAMPUS a reflection in terms of environment heaven – focusing on peace, love, and the fruit of the Spirit.

In the end, I suppose, most Christians in the world will continue to prefer a future destination where they imagine dancing for Jesus or worshipping him forever and ever, all the while promoting unrest, bondage and pseudo-religion while they are here on earth. Paul makes it clear that until believers can put away spite and division they will forever remain babes. Taking this I maintain that true Sons and Daughters will seek and strive to be peacemakers, not allowing ANY division to enter into the faith. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope today you will join us, and those of the faith will live as one.

WRITE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW and we will cover them tomorrow night, here on Heart of the Matter!