Heart of the Matter Broadcast

Live from Salt Lake City Utah, this is Heart of the MatterTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology., where we do all we can to worship God in Spirit and in truth. I am Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion., your host. How about a prayer?

Seekers and Suffering

PRAYER

Show 62 Seekers Suffer
January 1st, 2019

See, that’s how it works – one does the work of offering up material for consideration and another or others CHOOSE to take the time to investigate it, to challenge it, to dig through it all and see if it has value. Our stuff is especially designed for those who have tested other presentations of the faith and found them lacking in their heart and mind.

For people who love and seek God, who believe in Jesus and His finished work, who want to really love others, but haven’t found answers to the idea of a loving God in the face of human suffering, hell, and religious fear, shame, guilt, and even hate. This ministry is for people who clearly see and tire of religious manipulations, of man-claims, of demands in the name of God, and of zealous teachings that endorse fugly heart-practices of people who call themselves Christian. But most importantly – and this is vital – this is a ministry that holds dear the Word of God by the fruit of the Spirit.

In other words, we are not just using our ideas, thoughts, and opinions to justify doctrine and practice but we dig and search and challenge the Word of God by the Spirit and by context, standing face to face against all traditions of man to see if they hold living water. If they don’t, we reject them AND… and, and, and we support our rejection of them by a reasonable, contextual view of all scripture.

Last year we had a number of guests on the show and one of them was Dr. James White of Alpha and Omega ministries. Dr. White means well, he certainly uses scripture too, but if you watched the show, Dr. White could not figure out how to deal with me. He assumed that all his stances were “spot on” and when I could not comprehend them, he labeled me a walking contradiction. Perhaps I am. Perhaps our ability to fully capture all that God has for us leads to contradictory destinations – destinations that at one minute look yellow, and the next look blue.

This is not to say that God is contradictory – in the least – but perhaps our ability to figure him out is impossible, and when we try, and then demand others agree with our assessments – we wind up becoming… “less than” what He wants for us as His children… and in the end we only become more judgmental, mean, and even hateful of others? Sort of like “it's nice to be right, but it is much more right to be nice.”

The Pitfalls of Dogma

This is lost in dogma. Dogma is the might that makes right of the religious world. And it is this very dogma that has allowed men and women, over the ages and in the name of God, to

Ostracize others.
Ridicule others.
Punish others, and
Put others to death… in the name of God.

I see this attitude every time I open Facebook. On the other hand, I also see zealous humanism seeking to confront these foolish abuses. Isn’t there a middle ground? There is. It’s called Jesus – who hanging between perfect non-contradictory God and humanist earth – reconciled God to the world and now invites every single forgiven creation to reconcile themselves to Him. Isn’t that Great News. God has been reconciled to all of us, and now invites all of us to be reconciled… to Him. To love Him and to love others as He desires?

But I’ve gotta warn you – especially those who have cut their teeth on religion and its teachings – to get to the place where we can become free to love and I mean really love other people as they are, in what they believe and in the light of what they do, there is a price. And that price is pain and suffering and deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God..

It’s the pain of looking closely in the mirror and at the heart and mind; it’s the insufferable effort to test all things and to then actually let go of stuff that might have even benefited you; and it’s the death of comfort, certainty and union with others… as a means to arrive. Let me explain. Through a piece…

The Life Journey and Search for Truth

This 4×8 panel of half-inch black acrylic represents me, and you, and the individual life of every person on earth. It’s both the history of Man and the history of the Individual person. I created it to represent the life journey we all take from conception to death of the body. It also represents any given moment in our lives, any given hour, day, week, month, year or period of individual existence. The art is supposed to move us from conception to birth, to childhood to teen and adult years – and again, it can reflect a day in our lives or our lives in entirety.

The scratching before existence (we’ll get back to that). Our existence – wired and steeled by our parents. Their fears. Their need to give you certainty. Abandoning ideas and teachings and sojourning “out” scratching tooth and nail to discover. All different levels of attack. The traps – from the darkest to the lightest. STEEL LINED. Sink into them and view is limited. Religious institutions. Certainty, color, life – but it is all limited in love and color. The idea that industry or labors can satiate and last. (Cement) The coldness and hardness of certainty (Steel) – physical fitness, education, academia. Religion – (CLEAR EDIFICES) golden plates, anciently icons, drugs and escapism. Steel plates with color – a mix of love and truth and this material life – limited love. The unassimilated amalgam of color – cerebral intelligence without it landing in the heart and hands. Understanding the idea but failing for it to take hold. Steel blockades to progress – genetics (“I’m too dumb,” “I’m too poor,” “My parents beat me” – you know the score.) Most arrive, usually in their 40’s or 50’s – sometimes much earlier or later – to a wasteland of resignation.

The Wasteland of Resignation

I’m right about God, Jesus, the Trinity, Hell, right and wrong. I’m right about my politics. I’m right about lifestyles. I’m done searching. I’m justified in my prejudices. I’m fine in my anger and hatred. There is no God. Whatever. The black resignation is the most insidious place to exist among all other places because in it growth ends, opportunity to love more ends, and therefore life ends. We are certain, and therefore the ability to transcend our certainties dies.

At least in the realms below there is thinking and thought, there is exposure to the need to challenge and resist, and to claw and scratch and move out and onward. But not in the wasteland of dark resignation. For some this area is very narrow, hairline, and does not last but for a moment. But for others this could be expanded to cover most of the surface area. See these areas can all be expanded or shrank – depending on the person. But for those who want to know truth, to live in the vast love of the universe and commune directly, intimately with God Himself, they have to exit the realm of resignation.

Beyond Resignation to Ultimate Light

If they reverse and go backward they can settle into any one of the traps below – they welcome all. But to move past and beyond – to reach ultimate light and love, the move up from resignation is immediately met with the most relentless impediment to progress – the steely impenetrable hell of fossilized thought. This is the last vestige of certitude and the steel bar represents its stubborn desire to remain in control and to thrive. Every attempt to dig deeper is thwarted. Every attempt to reconsider is met with an echoing reminder of “been there, done that.” This place makes every prayer hollow, rote; every labor seemingly futile, every attempt at originality moot. It is the dark before the light, the worst before the best, and many never move beyond but find themselves skipping across its surface like a Dremel on a diamond.

But those who are relentless, who push, who refuse to settle or compromise along the way, will arrive. Arrive at the light. At the place of true agape selfless love. Of God. It’s a place where all the colors are present, all light and no shadow, and zero MANipulation. It's as wide as where we came from and as deep as space. Most of all, it is the ONLY place seekers of God in spirit and truth will rest. Nothing short of it is acceptable. In it we note no boundaries, no steel blockades, no man-made materials to capture and control. We note a multiplicity of color, all mingling in and out one with another. We note color

The Journey to God's Perfect Love

and light top to bottom and relative to the scope and size of the piece, a place without limitations. There are no rules, no laws, no musts. All that are therein simply are – and allow all others to be. The love, the light, the liberties are unconditional and limitless, but I must note too, that this experience is possible ONLY in and through God and His love. With humans, it is impossible.

Parenthood and Pure Love

One final note. We see that above the land of color, and light and God’s perfect love is . . . more scratching. What’s that all about? It reflects or represents something that happens to most seekers who find perfect love. It represents parenthood and what happens to most of those who while discovering pure love in God, out of fear that raising their children in such love will inevitably fail them, box them back up . . .in dogma, and religion, and rules – and after binding them all up, start the process all over again. Fortunately, those people who arrive at the love don’t do too much damage to their offspring, and therefore their children often rise up to the place of color and light without as much trouble as those who never get there at all.

Navigating Toward His Love

So, there it is. Heart of the matter is all about helping people navigate through the scratching and chomping, and to aid those trapped in the man-pits of though as a means to help them climb higher and higher toward His Love.

As an FYI, this piece is going on display in the Law Offices of Scott Sanders at Beehive Legal in Salt Lake City, a dear friend who selflessly helped our family with a legal matter and to show our love and appreciation for him I created this piece I’m calling Epistemology II. God bless you all. See you next week, here on HOTM!