BLATANT TRUTH

I was rinsing off my paddle board earlier this week, after getting in a little fishing before work.

Two guys had just come off the ocean in their outriggers, the large canoes you use offshore to cover long distances.

I overheard one of them say:

“You were so fast, any tips to increase my speed?”

The guy was in really good shape and said:

“Well… weight plays an important factor.”

The other guy laughed and started patting his large belly.

“Yeah, I do need to lose a few pounds.”

He asked, and he got a truthful answer.

I have been asked so often the last 8 years, what do you believe?

It has taken me some time to see that the question doesn’t really allow me to answer.
I didn’t leave one belief for another belief.
The better question is, what do I not believe?

This creates space for clarity. 

Which beliefs were questioned, removed, or upgraded?

We are going to break down religion, terms, history and some theology shortly.

But I wanted to share some truth, because most of the people reading this knew me as a pastor.

It’s not that I don’t believe in God, it’s that I don’t think we any longer need the belief in God.

I don’t think man needs a savior.

I don’t think we need eternal life.

I don’t think a starting and end point of judgment is natural.

When people say that “Jesus is the answer” or claim to be a “follower of Jesus”

*eyeroll*  I understand they mean they love people.

I don’t think people understand what the question is or who is asking it.

I don’t think they have thought through where they are following Jesus to.

I don’t think Eve sinned.

I don’t think Adam sinned.

I don’t think that God is good.

I don’t think anybody has to die and be resurrected for me to show up for my family, myself, my neighbors, or my clients.

I don’t think that the life of Jesus is that interesting. 

He wasn’t a dad, a husband, or successful business man.

So I just stopped worrying what he had to say. That simple.

I think religion is only for poor people, and I don’t mean just money.

I also think it’s a great starting point, helps a lot of people, then keeps a lot of people trapped.

I think you can graduate the church.

I also think some have been through so much hardship, the church is their forever home.

I also think the early church fathers did a lot of damage.

The only generational curse we all need to break is that the church told us we were broken, and their solution offered us nothing but an endless theological loop.

No good dad offers up his son, only a shitty one.

God never takes responsibility himself, always passes it down, theologically all the way down to us.

The only person we need to forgive is God.

I am not afraid to be judged. 
I hope he opens his big book and I get to stand before him.
I have some judgments of him too.

I am not afraid to stand up to the church and to god for my fellow man and declare that we are good. 

Regardless of any belief in Biblical literalism, it is apparent God (and the idea of him) clearly just wants to wreak havoc. 

And at the end of the book, he just wants to get payback.

I think that the Nicene Creed and its impact in 500 years will be a study about an open cult. 

Open delusion, open fantasy… the earliest discussions around eternity tricked us.

What was I supposed to do 8 years ago? Get up on a stage and say:

I think we are all being led astray?

That we can have this beautiful moment together without so much angst? Without such an awful premise and starting point.

Was anybody going to believe me if I got up on stage and said we are distracted by our own history?
That the God we speak of is the God we will never know?
That God has never once done anything good for his people?
That the hardships of Christianity are self-inflicted?
That loving and being with all of you is why I am here? 

I just love you guys.

I loved being your pastor. 

I studied the Bible with all my heart and mind and as they merged I saw clearly.

The only true hurt I felt in the church, is when I felt it was good for me to leave it.

We were the ones creating more damage than good. We were our own supply and demand.

I am a father, a creator, my garden is good, my kids are beautiful. The only thing I saved them from was the idea that they needed saving, or that something was wrong in the creation of the world, or that there needs to be judgment in the end. 

We will not profess that there is a savior in our house.

For me and my house we will explore, try, fail, learn, adapt, overcome, love, and be loved.

I am loving and leading my family, treating my clients with respect, honoring all those I meet with a cheerful human experience.

I am truly giving this life my best.

I do not owe God anything. 

I stopped letting him use my existence against me.

I do not owe the theological past my allegiance, my soul, my anger, or my joy.
The future does not belong to an angry or consuming God and theology.
It does not belong to a church that is unwilling to critique its fine print.

Every pastor that stands on stage and says anything close to the idea that you can’t trust or rely on yourself, or that the truth is out there in God, or only in community — they are lying to you.

I am on the other side.

My Mormon friends are reading this, my atheist friends are reading this, my gay friends are reading this, my clients are reading this, my divorced friends are reading this, my healthy friends are reading this, my hurting friends are reading this.

I know that if I could get them all in the same room, we would all have so much fun, and the jokes would be hilarious.

People who feel I have wronged them through all of this, are reading this.

We are all of this together. That is what community looks like.

So no, I am not a Christian anymore, I will not confess any sins, bow my head, and say that someone is Lord over my life.

I do not believe that the future belongs to any sort of technical Christological studies.

People on Mars will not use the Bible as their source code lol.

Christianity does not have the patent or copyright on love, goodness, community, or any original idea of being a good neighbor. 

Its uniqueness is only in its extremeness to get you to a starting point of belonging, one that belonged to you in the first place.

You can skip that part my friends.

Lastly, I have already had this conversation with my kids. 

They are 10 & 8.

If I am not this man in my home then I am not this man at all.

Head up friends, the light is coming in.

It is only going to reveal your goodness, it only wants to tell you that the pain you endured may have been unfair, shit it may have been fair. Either way the light is going to reveal to you that you are not alone. You are connected to all that is natural and good.

You ARE all that is natural and good.

The light is you accepting your origin story, not the origin story of Jesus, God, or the Buddha.

Religion is a presentation, not a mandate.

Your spiritual journey begins when you no longer take anybody’s word for it. 

I believe in people, our abilities, I accept that we make mistakes, people are good, people are bad, and that the spectrum is long, extreme, and difficult. That the worst pain is always the one that was unaware to begin with.

Religion is the examination of how flawed the human experience can be.
Your spiritual journey begins when you consider just how good this life can get for you. 

You being here, is the yes you are looking for.

Life is worth celebrating on its own merit, love is worth giving because it is good on its own. 

Your fruit, your thorns, your story, your purpose, all on the surface, for you to live in.

Taste and see that you are good. 

It is time for goodness to have its day.

Now THAT is GOOD NEWS.

Your pastor, friend, enemy, & CEO,

Josh Duke