Christ the Skateboarder

Faith does not save you - Jesus already did.

2011-08-17T20:41:00.000+02:00

The Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is This

2011-08-17T20:33:00.002+02:00

by Merelda Roos (Source: Mystery Revealed group - Facebook)
The Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is this:

Jesus is the One in Whom all things have their origin, in and through and by Him God created the very reaches of space and ages of time. He is the origin and consummation of all things, He is the perfect expression of God’s character and creativity and opinion of everything. Christ is before Adam was, and Adam himself began in Christ. Before Adam was breathed into being, Christ was already crucified to redeem every man concealed in Adams seed.
When God created Adam, He wasn’t exhausted and desperate for a fresh idea; He had a plan, a blueprint, an original design to work from. He knew Adam in Christ before He formed an expression for this knowing out of dust. And into this dust God breathed His Spirit, Himself. The beautiful and mysterious treasure of the very image and likeness of God, was revealed in a whole new created dimension and put on display in a way that the angels had never even comprehended before. A being that is, in his limited dimensions of time and space, exactly what God is in eternity. A being that could function perfectly in the dimension of his domain, yet (and this is the greatest mystery of it all) had unhindered access to the dimensions of eternity and the very thoughts and feelings and purposes of God’s heart.
The joy of the Creator! Unhindered and unrestrained enjoyment of a being that is just as He is! For unlike anything else in this new dimension, Adam was more than just a creative expression of the Creator, He is in fibre and being, part of the Creator, originating from Him but also able to interact with him in a like unto like relationship. A relationship of equal worth and value and appreciation of one another.

It is essential to understand that just as all of humanity was represented in Adam, Adam was represented in Christ right from the start. Adam is included in Christ just as we are included in Adam. This means that whatever is true of Christ is of more value and weight and of greater influence in our lives, than what is true of Adam. Christ is the greater definition, He is the blueprint.
When Adam fell from glory (forgot his worth and honour and the opinion of God about him in Gods eyes)when Adam thought for a moment that he was not already like God and had to do something in order to become like God, his own effort and striving separated him from God. He lost track of who he is, and in that he could no longer face God.

His effort to improve on that which God had already proclaimed perfect, separated him from God’s Sabbath rest, His celebration of perfection, for Adam thought Gods design needed some improvement. He stepped out of this rest in perfection and entered a life of striving and toiling. A life blind to the Spirit and his own identity, where the experiences of his body is his only reference and the deciding factor in his opinion of himself. This only leads to death, without any understanding of who he is or what he is supposed to do. Left to his own ever shifting idea of what is good and evil and how to choose between the two, he placed himself, and all his descendants, under a law that leads to death.

And in this utter hopelessness lies the insane beauty of the gospel and Gods mind-blowing Logos Word of logic: There is a Blueprint in the heavens that qualifies to represent both man and God. There is one in Whom all of mankind is included, who has the ability to take the form of man and, in dying, die the death of all mankind and end the entire fallen Adamic race. And having put an end to death itself, because of His own divinity and absolute innocence, death could not contain Him, and He raised! Restoring man’s original innocence and identity, He became the first among many brethren, brethren who shares His Life and of whom everything is true that was true of Him!

Our inclusion in Christ in the mind of God has guaranteed our redemption and innocence as sure as our inclusion in Adam led to our death and destruction. There is no point in proclaiming our inclusion in the fall, if we do not also proclaim our inclusion in the life, death and resurrection of Christ. The entire point of the gospel is that the life of Jesus IS your life; He lived your life and died your death. Your life is now hid with Christ in God and nothing you do can separate you from that love, that unity. You cannot add anything to your life by what you do, because the substance of who you are is and always has been perfect and perfectly preserved in the mind of God, and in the expression of His thoughts: His Word; Jesus Christ!

So, with boldness and confidence, we can introduce every man to himself as innocent and blameless, perfectly preserved in Christ, in spite of the fall and the decay his body is still subject to. Every man can taste and see that the Lord is good, and He has kept all His promises! The soul of every man can be awakened to their true spiritual identity and unity with God almighty, and their emotions and desires and thoughts will be satisfied and fulfilled in this unity, overflowing in an abundant and victorious life, despite the death their mere bodies are still subject to. They will no longer live by bread alone, but by the Word of God: The expressed thoughts and opinion of God regarding them. While bread sustains their bodies, their souls will no longer need to look for the fleeting pleasures and feelings produced by various things they do with their bodies. They will once again live by the Higher Life from within instead of living by the knowledge of good and evil. They will live by the knowledge of their true Spirit-identity! They will no longer look to sensual pleasures that satisfies for a moment and, like a drug, leaves the victim unfulfilled and desperate for the next temporary satisfaction. Their souls will find rest, will find likeness and peace, in its unity with the Spirit, and they will live from the satisfaction of their souls in the Spirit of God, instead of the needs of their flesh. And this contentment and satisfaction and enjoyment in the Spirit will set them free to enjoy their bodies and all that is good and beautiful around them, without being dependant on it for their contentment and happiness.

This knowing is defined by Jesus as eternal Life, the Life He came to restore us to, His Life of abundance!

About Christ the Skateboarder

2011-08-08T20:09:00.004+02:00

Christ the Skateboarder is not really a person, but rather a metaphor. The apostle Paul writes of a mystery which has been revealed. That mystery is beyond awesome to fathom and yet as close to all of us as our very hearts are (1Co 2:7 ...hidden in silence for timeless ages; the mystery which God had planned with accurate precision: the glory we lost in Adam would be restored again in Christ!) What a wondrous notion that before Adam fell Jesus rose! It's a shame that mainstream Christianity has effectively belittled and ridiculed the fantastic tale of mankind's redemption by making it a mere religious matter, and a judgemental one at that. Religion will always include some form of hierarchical mediator-ship to God. With this model there are effectively two types of individuals, those that need a mediator because of self condemnation and those that mediates because of exactly the same reason. The truth of mankind's incarnation is that we don't need superstar pastors with "wow moment" one liners. There is no distance between man and God except maybe that which religious Christianity has created. In that sense anything or anyone playing the part of mediator is very much an anti-Christ. The letter of Paul to the Romans amongst others, explains mankind's position relative to God beautifully. Romans 8:29: "He pre-designed and engineered us from the start to be jointly fashioned in the same mould and image of His son according to the exact blueprint of His thought. We see the original and intended pattern of our lives preserved in His Son; He is the firstborn from the same womb that reveals our genesis. He confirms that we are the invention of God." (MirrorWord Translation)

Christ the Skateboarder represents every single individual which has been justified in Christ, namely all of mankind. (Rom 4:25 - Our sins resulted in His death; our innocence resulted in His resurrection). Christ the Skateboarder represents you and Christ in you, and Christ the Skateboarder represents every individual who will not be stereo typed while at the same time finds opportunity, timely and untimely, to declare their love and immortal devotion to God their king. After all has been said and done, if you still don't believe, you need to understand that mankind's belief system is irrelevant. It's God's belief system in mankind which matters. Stick around. You might find something you like.

Love

Elmer Botha

Worry

2011-07-21T11:41:00.001+02:00

It's so easy to proclaim the wonderful truth of Grace when there is money and food on the table, or when impending death or sickness isn't knocking on your door. It feels so utterly inconvenient to hear sermons on "Your money or lack thereof is no proof of God's presence in your life" when we don't actually have money. And then there's the guilt trip because quite frankly who the hell wants lack? You don't care about millions gazillions, you just want to enjoy your life. When it comes to self preservation; believing, or believing in Christ's belief in you, or however other beautiful and poetic way you want to put it, becomes a whole other proverbial giant of astronomical proportions. You can put that in your mystical Grace-whacked pipe and smoke it.

And yet in all this, thru experience, one is reminded of how God's wonderful manifestation of His Grace has time and again miraculously come thru. Psalm 36:9 gets to the point: "For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light." In His light we see the light. What an absolute wondrous thought. When I look back on my life it's easy to recall when God rocked up. It was always when I was amidst the storm sleeping. It was from this state of Grace I would wake up and (gracefully) reprimand the storm, and then go back to sleep. Reprimanding out of fear does not seem to work. You know that sensation you get when you feel guilty because you're so calm and collected in the face of ultimate danger? You're still not sleeping here. It's when you ignore this feeling of guilt that you fall asleep. It's in His light where we see the light and when we see the light, we see our future as He sees it, absolutely and totally and completely and stupendously prosperous.

The simple fundamental non-sugar coated truth about worry is that it's our way of saying "God is not in my future. God is not there yet." It's acknowledging that fundamentally we don't believe in God's belief in our future. My good friend Francois du Toit speaks about the fisherman boats in Hermanus. He explains how they were never built to be docked, they were built to withstand the roughest and toughest seas the Southern hemisphere can throw at them. There will always be rough seas. When David killed Goliath he must have been the craziest, luckiest, suicidal son of a bitch, OR - he was simply and quite naturally reprimanding the storm. He saw the light in(side) the light of Christ.

Remember, read the bible in context of: an absolute loving God, the absolute redemption work of Christ FOR THE WHOLE WORLD, and of course, in context in which it was written.
You are blessed and sinless before God. May His faith, not your own, convince you of that.

The atheist, Christian and Buddhist walk into a bar…

2009-08-19T11:16:00.002+02:00

It all sounds like a bad bar joke doesn’t it? Who is right and who is condemned? Christianity, Buddhism or Atheism. Which one is the biggest religion out there? It’s interesting how some atheists seem to spend more time proving there is no God than there are Christians spending time with the God they believe in.

For me Christ is so much bigger than Christianity. Don’t get me wrong, I am a believer in everything Christ stands for. I am not too sure if I believe in everything that Christianity stands for. I love this quote from Bono: "I have this hunger in me…everywhere I look, I see evidence of the Creator. But I don’t see it as a religion, which has cut my people in two. I don’t see Jesus Christ as being any part of a religion. Religion to me is almost like when God leaves – and people devise a set of rules to fill the space."

How can absolute Love offend or show favouritism? If the God of the Bible is firstly love, and secondly has created man, how can there be any hint of discrimination in his Heart? Why would He love a homosexual any less or love a so-called Christian any more (I just lost a few Facebook buddies with that statement)? How can any utterance of perceived wrong doing of a child cause offense to a father who is Love utterly, completely and supremely? I believe that the God of the Bible, whether you believe in Him or not, has been misrepresented. If you don’t want to believe in God, at least don’t believe in the correct version of who He truly is.

When Jesus say “I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one gets access to God, if it isn’t through me.” (Joh 14:6), He’s not trying to be exclusive. He is expressing an utterance of an all-embracing, all-inclusive absolute loving heart for the whole world. He’s saying that “Whether you believe in me or not, I am restoring access to God for you as well. I hope you would believe, but that’s not my motivation. I am going to do die for you anyway.” When John saw Jesus for the first time he said “There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (Joh 14:6). 1John 2:2 - “and he--he is a propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world (YLT) . Christ came to restore access to God. For everyone. Let the penny drop in your heart. It’s not offensive. It has just been evangelised in an offensive way.

Whether you are a believer or not, the story of Christ has not always been told the way it should have. I believe that God is not affected by our injustices. Only we are. As far as He is concerned the species of sinner has been extinct for 2000 years (2 Cor 5:21). In fact Ephesians 1:4 states that Christ has chosen us before the foundation of the earth to be found holy and guiltless before the Father. If Christ in fact did come to save the whole world as John said, then surely Ephesians 1:4 includes everybody as well.
It was people, not God, who used the term Christian for the first time (Acts 11:26). Just because it is written in the Bible is not to say God said it. Christianity has come a long way since then, and there is nothing wrong with calling yourself Christian. I think it’s important to understand what being a believer in Christ is truly all about. For starters, it’s about having no prejudice in your heart whatsoever, and it’s about including the whole world in God’s loving heart, whether the whole world believes it or not.

Repentance

2009-08-07T06:59:00.000+02:00

You have made me fearfully and wonderfully. It is in You where my true origins lie. I have so many things to say and give thanks to You. Sometimes I feel the fear and anger swell up in me and know that in a split second I have to choose to fly instead of momentarily die.

And should the choice of death consume me for a whole damn day, it is out of death you have already carried me away.
Not even the worst thought can shake me. For the Star Breather dwells within me. And it is not only stars that were breathed. What a glorious Day He has made!

You are the Giver. And gave You have given but not freely, at least not freely to Thee. It was surely a dear price to pay when I think of my choice of death again momentarily. From now on I will let choice decide if I win the day. But should I choose incorrectly again then Grace already saw that someday.

Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. My Friend. My Brother. I have no sin because You had it all. And it is because of this that I want to sin no more.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea

2009-08-06T06:59:00.009+02:00

I just finished Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea written by Jules Verne. The book first appeared in 1870 and is heralded a true science fiction classic. The book was a pleasant surprise indeed and not at all what I expected. It seems that the definition of science fiction those days were a lot different than that of today. Even though based in fiction, the science part was always kept pure and as true to acknowledged theory as possible.

That brings us to the original meaning of Science Fiction. The term, as far as I am concerned, essentially encompassed the following: fiction, usually with a strong adventurous undertone and a good dose of scientific fact. Princeton’s online definition put it this way: 'Literary fantasy involving the imagined impact of science on society'. So simple and yet so pure.

So let me fold space and arrive back to present time. How exactly does Star Wars involve the imagined impact of science on society? Or how does the new Star Trek movie let me appreciate Newton’s third? At this point you might feel to mention that a space craft’s jet engine produces thrust through action and reaction. The engine produces hot exhaust gases which flow out the back of the engine. In reaction, a thrusting force is produced in the opposite direction. Please forgive my sarcasm but it’s hard to ignore Newton’s third law every time a space craft fires up to leave Uranus’s atmosphere. What a relief to know that all home schooled children need only go and watch Battlefield Earth to travel through an adventurous curriculum of absolute fact safely rooted in well documented science (or in this case Scientology).

It’s all a little bit like what Christ intended for His Body but turned out to become the multibillion dollar industry called church. That which was supposed to be so simple, so pure, so absolutely based in Truth has become nothing but a CGI spectacle. Special effects that boggle the mind. Sound effects which make the hair on your back stand up. Robbie Williams sang it. Maximus Decimus Meridius asked the question. Entertainment is what it’s all about. Whether it’s rooted in Truth or not isn’t the point. The point is that next week you have to be back for the latest and greatest ‘science fiction' exhibition.

This might offend some but the Son of Man has nothing in common with a hierarchical structure devised by man using God as an excuse for it. Paul states in his letter to the Romans that Christ is the first born of many brothers (and sisters) (Rom 8:31). Sorry for sounding too liberal, but how’s that for equality? Jesus himself says that we should not call anyone on Earth father (Mat 23:9). And yet there are Christian denominations, prominent and less prominent, that specifically compel its members to call a ‘chosen one’ 'Father'.

Recently I read how a high flying faith healer in Africa was caught paying someone to say she was wheelchair bound with the obvious intent of miraculously healing her. A few months ago a rather big article on page 5 discussed a Christian gathering where ushers were standing ready with wireless credit card machines. The crowd was challenged to ‘donate’ thousands of dollars each so as to become millionaires. The catch was they only had a few minutes to decide before the ‘blessing window’ would close. Of course if you were there and have donated a thousand dollars within this 'blessing window', and have not become a millionaire as of yet then you just need to have more faith next time. And don't worry, there will always be a next time.

The irony of it all this is that the risen Christ does in fact heal miraculously. I’ve seen it and experienced it personally. He has already healed the entire planet. When He was raised from the dead those glorious two millennia ago, you rose with Him, alive and kicking. That is the simple science of it all. That is the equation. The variable is faith or rather; the variable is His offspring (the WHOLE world) who has faith as a constant in their lives. Faith in what He has already done for us. There are no fathers or intermediaries between you and Christ. Then Christ’s work on the cross would not be 100% complete. No special effects. No glorious explosions. There is just pure and simple Truth. I urge you to get rid of all the religious noise in your life. The seed of Christ is within us all, including you. You are genetically pre-disposed to be a son or daughter of God (Ps 82:6). But know this, Christ is not exclusive. Christ included the entire human race. He is beyond the scope and boundaries of any religion. No book or label can define Him. It is man who made Him exclusive and still does to this very day.

Remember, read the bible in context of: an absolute loving God, the absolute redemption work of Christ FOR THE WHOLE WORLD, and of course, in context in which it was written.

You are blessed and sinless before God. May His faith, not your own, convince you of that.

Bono-fide man of God

2009-07-31T07:03:00.000+02:00

"I have this hunger in me…everywhere I look, I see evidence of the Creator. But I don’t see it as a religion, which has cut my people in two. I don’t see Jesus Christ as being any part of a religion. Religion to me is almost like when God leaves – and people devise a set of rules to fill the space."

"To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater."

"The future is not fixed; it's fluid. You can build your own building, or hut or condo...the world is more malleable than you might thing and it's waiting for you to hammer it into shape."

"Distance does not decide who is your brother and who is not. The church is going to have to become the conscience of the free market if it's to have any meaning in this world - and stop being its apologist."

"As a rock star, I have two instincts, I want to have fun, and I want to change the world. I have a chance to do both."

The Origins of Christ The Skateboarder

2009-07-20T07:47:00.000+02:00

With all the bells and whistles blurring our view today I tend to put dreams, visions and so-called prophetic utterances a bit on the back burner. I have seen how pizza dreams (the type of dreams you get because of a bad mushroom on your pizza) can keep an entire congregation busy for months. I have also seen how true dreams inspired by the True Spirit gets misinterpreted because of personal 'contamination'.

Mass hysteria truly manifests itself when a so-called prophet shares a so-called dream from God. If prophecy does not represent Christ and His Grace fundamentally, chances are extremely good that the prophet, well, wants to profit. "... for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Rev 19:10). Hebrews 1:1 says that God no longer speaks to us through prophets in these days, but through his Son. My interpretation is that that which needed prophesying has come to pass and has been fulfilled. It is interesting that Isiah prophecies in the past tense of the Christ hundreds of years prior to the coming of the Christ (Is. 53). For me, if Christ is proclaimed audibly or through a dream, that is, without the bells and the whistles, a prophecy is being uttered. Drum roll for Willem's dream please.

There is from time to time, a prophetic dream which is so absolutely representative of Truth that one cannot and don't want to ignore it. Herewith follows the reason I decided to start a blog representing the True Christ who diggs skateboarders and loves prostitutes:

(His Spirit takes you into a realm of revelation – when you awake it startle you because the dream was so real……)

I was in a room with a group of young people – late teens- all super funky, MTV style, skateboarders and free runners; having great loyalty towards each other and sharing a common identity around their culture and activity.

One of the girls in the gang was very sick and everybody was worried about her. Compassion and faith welled up within me as I walked over to where she was lying – her blond hair had a faint shine and her pale blue eyes stared into nothingness. I immediately realised that her sickness was due to the influence of an evil spirit. The Spirit of God towered in me as I placed my hand on her forehead, rebuking the unclean spirit. It immediately left her and she sat upright, eyes bright and having life in her. We were all so stoked and jumped, danced and laughed whilst being in total awe. In this festive atmosphere I neglected to explain to her the Truth about herself as recorded in Jesus Christ – her nature remained open but unprotected….. the unclean spirit seized her again with such determination that she fell over; her whole body became stiff and her eyes became dead and cold.

I wanted to pray for her again but could not find the faith; despondency dragged me down and immediately I cried out to the Lord for His help. As I cried to Jesus 6 or 7 people entered the room at the same time – ordinary people from all walks of life: and old lady with glasses; a policeman with a moustache, a bald guy that looked like an office worker……. everybody started talking at the same time; I became confused and did not know which one was Jesus. At that moment the Holy Spirit whispered: “listen for His voice”. I closed my eyes and in the conundrum of voices I heard a Voice: gentle, pure, strong – full of authority and love. I opened my eyes and looked at a lean Indian guy in his early twenties, wearing torn baggy jeans and skateboarder shoes; a funky t-shirt and his dreadlocks hanging on his shoulders; the brightest eyes and a smile full of warmth, love and sincerity. “You are the Lord” I cried. He said yes and the walked over to the sick girl, placing His hand on her. Power flowed from His being into her and immediately the evil spirits fled and she became completely well. All the kids were overawed and started shouting “Jesus is just like us! Jesus is just like us!” They brought their gang’s badge and tried to stick it on Him, but he gently declined saying “you cannot label Me.” The kids seemed a bit dejected but then realised that He is just like them but also much more. Jesus then walked outside and I followed Him. Outside the room he turned, looked at me and then jumped 3 meters into the air – he hung there for a moment – and then started dancing in the air; joy and power raining down on me. (End)

Willem Boshoff is a friend and brother in Christ who I believe is a true prophet.

Remember, read the bible in context of: an absolute loving God, the absolute redemption work of Christ FOR THE WHOLE WORLD, and of course, in context in which it was written.

You are blessed and sinless before God. May His faith, not your own, convince you of that.

Tattoos

2009-07-01T10:44:00.000+02:00

Why are we here on Earth? If you find time please watch this to the end to find out.

The Silver Surfer will rise again

2009-07-01T07:06:00.000+02:00

I am fascinated by super heroes. I have been since child hood. It seems that the world in general shares my fascination. Comic books and lately a gulf of Hollywood fantastical movies testifies to that. Could it be that subconsciously we yearn to be something more than what we are. In context of Biblical scriptures perhaps we yearn to be, what we already are. That is my belief. The mystery of the Son of Man is revealed, within us. He does not dwell within temples made with hands, but dwells within earthen vessels, namely us. The seed of Christ is within all man, we need to allow the faith of God to germinate it.

God never called us for religion, or to sit on uncomfortable chairs Sunday upon Sunday to hear how sinful we are. His opinion never changed about us and He was not the one who cursed the earth. It was Adam's blatant inferiority that allowed for the earth to be cursed. However, no measure of inferiority, or stupidity, or pride can undo the absolute redemption work of Christ.

The species of sinner is extinct! The devastating aftermath of an ice age or meteorite does not come close to the eradication work of the cross. But instead of everything being dead, everyone is alive because of the One. Mankind is immortal because of it. There is no celestial being we can conjure up in our minds, whether it's Superman (who by the way is an absolute prophetic image of the Son of Man redeeming mankind) or the Silver Surfer, which comes close to what we truly are. "... ye are gods and children of the Most High" The "Breather of stars" dwells within me, and hopefully you. It's a choice because of a revelation of who you are. It's not some mechanical procedure that opens a mystical door for you. The door has been open for all of us for two thousand years. In fact, Ephesians 1:4 states that Christ has chosen us before the foundation of the earth to be found holy and guiltless before the Father. You are a guiltless super hero offspring of the Most High. Pause and think about that for a moment.

Ref: 2 Corinthians, Acts, Genesis, Psalms, Ephesians. Read in context of: an absolute good God, the absolute redemption work of Christ, and of course in context of which it was written.

You are blessed. May the faith of God convince you of that.

Forgiveness cannot be earned, it can only be enjoyed.

2007-12-05T13:57:00.001+02:00

I enjoyed the take this guy have on what Christ's death on the cross really meant. I'm not even sure who he is, but he does understand to a great extent the definition of grace.

Sinners Prayer

2007-11-14T13:48:00.000+02:00

I am always fascinated by the labels we as humans tend to attach to things in life. Take the sinners prayer. No where in the Bible as we know it does any reference towards the sinners prayer come up, nonetheless, its a definite and very important factor in the church's philosophy.

One of the scriptures quoted in the full-blown version of this age old prayer is Romans 3:23 which states "for all have sinned and falls short of the glory of God". Now this scripture is pretty straight forward in its own little universe and basically says that the whole of mankind are, because of their sinful nature, inferior to God. We do not possess the glory of God because of the fact that we are sinners. Now, could this imply that, if we were not sinners, that we were not inferior to God? Put differently, if man, within the biblical universe that is, were not sinners at all, could he possess and reflect the fullness of the glory of God? After all, the scriptures do say that originally man was made in God's image. Obviously God is not a sinner and therefore again, within the biblical realm, the DNA of man must have been altered some how later on with this sinful nature. So if we pray the sinners prayer, does our DNA get altered back again? Well, historically, as the church's philosophy goes, we basically stay sinners, we just don't go to hell anymore. It is at this point where the Bible, in its entirety seems to contradict the church.

Let's look at this from a different point of view. In the book Isiah it seems that God is prophesying through Isiah and He asks His people in chapter 51 verse 1 to look at the rock from which they were hewn. Now any geologist would tell you that the little piece of rock cut from a mine or mountain is genetically identical in every possible way. Observed under a microscope there would be absolutely no difference. In John 10, it is documented that the Pharisees are highly offended with Jesus calling Himself the son of God. However Jesus quotes their own scriptures, Psalm 82 in fact, and asks them whether God Himself did not call them, mere people, gods? Psalm 82 goes on further and states that not only are they gods, but they are sons of the most High. In Deuteronomy 10:17 God states that he does not regard any person above the other. In Acts 10 Peter has the revelation that God does not regard the Jewish people any higher than non-Jews. Within this context one could argue that the scriptures pointing out to the Jews that they are in fact gods and sons of God pertains just as much to anyone else as it does to them.

So God, within the parameters of the Biblical context, calls us gods and also calls us His sons (or daughters). Yet the church has been calling me a sinner for two thousand years. In fact, the mere concept of someone born into this world without sin is completely unheard of. Let's look at Rom 3 again. Paul, a Jew radically converted to the Christian faith writes a letter to Jews and non-Jews alike in the city of Rome and from chapter one onwards challenges the Jews on their judgmental nature towards the Greeks and other non-Jews. In Rom 1:16,17 he states that he is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for in this gospel the righteousness of God is revealed by faith for every man, not just the Jew. He then goes on to remind them in Romans 1 of their days in the desert and how they absolutely revolted against God in sin. In Romans 2 verse 1 he challenges them by asking how can they judge any other being having themselves done similar and even worse things. Within this context Rom 3:23 makes perfect sense as, for all, not just non-Jews have sinned and therefore falls short of the glory and majesty of God.

However, once Romans 3 is appreciated in its fullest context, it becomes clearer that this is not at all the point Paul is trying to make. Let's broaden the context of Romans 3:23 a bit by reading a few verses before and after. In verse 21 and 22 Paul comes back to his original thought of Rom 1:16 and 17 and explains how God's righteousness, the true righteousness that has nothing to do with the Jewish law is manifested at that very moment through faith in Jesus Christ (more specifically, faith in the death and resurrection of Christ as the son of man). He goes on to make his point that this righteousness is for everyone, because, we are back at the infamous verse 23, everyone has sinned. Verse 24 carries on to state that again everybody is justified by grace through the salvation obtained from Christ.

Should one read Romans 3:23 within the context it was written it says completely the opposite of what the church have been feeding us for the past two thousand years. In fact, one could carry on further and read Romans 4:25 as per the most original manuscripts available. Rom 4:25 basically says the following: "because of us being sinners Christ had to die for us on the cross, and because we were all, every single one of us, declared righteous, Christ stood up from the dead" Did you get that?! The King James version says it completely differently and states that because Jesus rose from the dead we now have the potential to be made righteous in Gods' eyes. That is completely incorrect and the core fundamentals of the church have been built upon the fact that everyone are still sinners. Scriptures say that Jesus only rose from the dead the moment the whole of mankind was made righteous, in other words, once again became that piece of the bigger rock that was cut from the quarry. In all aspects exactly like God!

I think it's important to say that I am not in any way mad at the church or some kind of Bible basher. On the contrary. I just think it necessary to get the facts right. Christ never came to die to give us the potential. The potential was ours the moment he rose from the dead. Whether you believe in God or not, the important factor here is that the Bible testifies of something different that what we have been told. The Bible tells us a gospel of good news, not judgmental news. According to what we read within the context of the biblical universe the following could be said:

Sin has been dealt with on the cross. Not 99%. 100%.
It does not seem to me, within the new Testamentical context, that God or Christ are keeping their thoughts busy with the so-called sinful nature of man. That seems to be what the church has been doing.
If, according to scriptures, every single man has already been justified before God, then no child is born and received within sin anymore.
If every man is already fully justified then everyone, not just Christians, have full and complete access to God without any form of hierarchy whatsoever.
The sinners prayer is in fact then a misnomer and the manifestation of salvation will not be through our admitting we are sinners, but rather the natural acceptance of our salvation through faith. Believing we are already in right standing with God, without any sin, could take a lot less faith than accepting Jesus Christ as our lord and savior for fear of going to hell. If God was in fact almighty why would he need such an elementary tactic as manipulative fear to make people worship Him?
Salvation only truly makes sense within this context.
Hell will not have one sinner in it, but rather possibly those who did not naturally and freely chose salvation. The notion of having been given full salvation and not accepted it would truly be hell. But that's a totally different can of worms on its own.

Have a good one.