The Naked Journal
Thoughts, musings, and meanings behind NakedPastor Art.
The Naked Journal
What Do You Want? The Question That Changed My Life
When I left the ministry I had no idea what to do.A mentor asked, “David, what do you want?" I couldn’t answer. I really didn’t know what I wanted. My religious devotion was so deep that I lost touch with myself and my desires. I had no idea what I wanted. You also know this if you’ve been as serious about church and belief as I was. If you were taught that you had to serve, sacrifice and suffer to live a full Christian life, you might not know what you want either. I wasn’t allowed to want anything because it was selfish. The only question was, “What does God want?” “What do I want?” was not just greedy and worldly but disobedient and hurtful to the Lord. When I said in exasperation, “I don’t know what I want”, he said I had to figure it out. I felt sinful even considering it. A woman says to Jesus that she was never allowed to want anything in life. Jesus weeps. Now I know what I want. And I don’t feel guilty about it. It’s good to want. It’s human to want. I’m in touch with my desires and feelings. I’m not ashamed of it. I no longer allow beliefs to silence me or shut me down. When I left the ministry I knew nothing about business and money and I had to learn quick. The books all say the same thing: the first question you must answer is “What do you want?” You have to answer that to live your life. I know that now. What do you want? (This is from my book “Money is Spiritual” on Amazon.)
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Asexual Affirming Jesus Art
I have asexual friends who've asked me to do a cartoon for them. I've also had random asexual members of our nakedpastor community ask me to make a cartoon for them. Jesus is ice fishing with a sheep with asexual colors. After asking several of them if this one or that one is good or has issues or is wrong or hurtful, I finally landed on this one. So far everyone loves it! That makes me happy, because I sure do. Maybe it's not something you do in your part of the world. But we do it here in Canada. Our rivers and lakes freeze over. When the ice is thick enough and safe enough for humans to walk on without falling through (although we even drive our vehicles on it when it's really cold and thick enough), we drill a hole through the ice and start fishing. We bring snacks and our favorite beverage too. Sometimes we catch fish! I hope you like it. There are prints too.
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Choosing Healthy Relationships Over Toxic Norms
Many rules are designed to keep you in toxic and even abusive relationships. Honor your parents and accept whatever they administer. Submit to your husband and do not divorce. This is your family whether you like it or not. Don’t challenge the leader and submit to authority. Turn the other cheek and accept whatever anyone does to you. Forgive your abusers 70 times 7 times. Never say no to anyone’s requests or demands. As diverse as the gospels are in their stories of Jesus, we can say he was fiercely independent and lived as a free man. He chose his friends.He redefined his family.He chose who to hang out with,who to avoid,and who to walk away from. In Howard Thurman’s book, “Jesus and the Disinherited”, he suggests that much of the teachings of Jesus are from a person who lived under occupation and are actually survival techniques for the oppressed. Unfortunately, oppressors take these teachings and, not surprisingly but typically, twist them into tools of oppression. For example, when we are instructed to turn the other cheek, that was a technique for a victim to take back their power and make a courageous choice to survive. Abused people understand this technique. But abusers are aware of this technique too and take advantage of it. They expect their victims to abide by the turn-the-other-cheek rule and indulge their abusive behavior. We shouldn’t just have to survive. We can thrive by establishing healthy boundaries, forming healthy relationships, and living healthy and happy lives. If we can, we should walk away from toxic and abusive relationships. Yes, some people will accuse you of breaking the rules.Because you’ve upset the norm. But you’ll be healthier for it.And happier too.
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Is Self-love biblical or sinful?
Love isn’t just reserved for a man and a woman. It doesn’t have to lead to a traditional marriage and family. Love just is. But how does this apply to self-love? In this blog, we’ll discuss whether self-love is biblical or sinful. Jesus drives a pickup truck with a bumper sticker, “HONK IF YOU LOVE YOURSELF”. Is Self-Love a Sin? Recently when I talked about the necessity of self-love, someone challenged my heresy by demanding I show even one verse to support my claim. I don’t need to defend self-love, but the moment got the better of me and I did descend to his level. I quoted the extremely famous verse: “Love your neighbor as yourself,” which suggests that love begins with you. If you have any self-awareness or any psychology education at all you know that if you don’t love yourself you will struggle to love others. Because love loves. Love is indiscriminate. Self Love and The Church But the church doesn’t typically nurture self-love. If you were told you were sinful from birth, that your heart was desperately wicked, that your mind was deceitful, and that you were going to Hell by default, you have no defense. You: “But I don’t feel that evil. I think I’m a pretty good person.” Them: “That just proves you’re proud AND deceived!” What if the concept of original sin was invented as an attempt to describe why the world sometimes feels broken and as an attempt to explain why humanity seems to suffer so? When you love yourself, you really are going against the religious pressure that keeps you doubting and even hating yourself, which in turn makes you perpetually submissive, needy, and constantly in need of restoration that is only bestowed by those in authority over you. Go Forth and Love Thyself! Loving yourself is revolutionary. You should do it more. If you need tips, read this blog about loving yourself through deconstruction.
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Things I Would Say to People Who Are Deconstructing Their Beliefs
It’s often traumatic to deconstruct your beliefs. Here’s some comfort. Don’t worry about the past, the future, or the present. You may have regret or shame for how you believed and behaved in the religious culture you were deeply enmeshed in. Accept your roots and integrate the earlier chapters of your life into your present self. This is not to say you must believe or excuse your earlier beliefs. You just learn to write the past into your story. You wouldn’t be who you are now unless you were who you were then. Like an alchemist, transmute the dross of your past life into the gold of your present one. Don’t worry about the future. There’s no condemnation, judgment or punishment for questioning, changing, or losing your beliefs. Just like I would never reject my children for believing differently than I, neither do we live in a vengeful universe that retaliates for a different wisdom sought with integrity. Relax. Be at peace. Do not fear. It is well. Don’t worry about the present. You’re now liberated from a life of constant monitoring and measuring. You’re free to be here now. Space and time are concepts; we live in an infinite chain of “now”s. All you have is now. This is the fulness of time, the infinite and the eternal, and you can be in it just as you are, authentically, honestly, vulnerably, and joyfully, right now. You are not alone.You are not crazy.You are not backsliding.You are growing.As you should.Enjoy it.And love yourself for it.I do.
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God, Privilege, and the Uncomfortable Truths We Avoid
A little while ago I drew a cartoon and wrote a post on “Privileged or Disenfranchised”, and I was surprised by the kickback I got on it. You see, I assume that what is true is accepted by everyone everywhere. For example, when I claim the God of the gospel is a God of justice and is preferential towards the poor, cares for the downtrodden, and defends the weak and disenfranchised, who brings down the mighty and lifts up the lowly, I don’t expect an argument. But I’m always wrong. Cartoon description: Mary and Joseph are in the stable. Joseph delivers a very white baby Jesus and looks angrily at Mary who looks back at him with dismay. I’ve come to discover, much to my dismay and disappointment, that many people don’t want a God whose eye is on the sparrow. They want a God whose eye is on all sparrows. Why? Because it excuses them from personal responsibility and the burden of particularity. It’s easier to love all people than to be responsible for and love that certain particular person. That certain disenfranchised person. I always suggest reverse engineering a theology to see where its roots lead. If we portray Jesus as always white (I sometimes do but not always), then are we suggesting his father is white? In other words, is God white? Sure, your God is invisible. Your God's not literally white. But does your God exemplify all that it means to be white? Does your God favor and center the white race? Does your God empower the white race to be the caretakers and leaders, the principalities and powers of this world? And does your God just feel pity for all other races and peoples or maybe even treat them as accursed or less advanced because of their religion, their heritage, their history, their color, their geography, their whatever? This is a huge problem. If you can’t see that there are the privileged and then those who suffer beneath them, then your ignorance is as ridiculous as this cartoon. And you have no idea what the social and political ramifications of Jesus are.If you enjoyed this blog post check out my Images Of Christ drawing collection which captures the idea that there are many interpretations and reconciliations of Christ.
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Privilege or Sacrifice: What Does the Cross Truly Signify?
When you already have everything in this world as a privileged person, all that's left for Jesus to give you is good feelings, more success, and a prominent seat at the banqueting table in Heaven. The cross has simply become a tool for personal gratification and nothing more. But what about those who do suffer? What about the disenfranchised, the disinherited, and the dismissed? Cartoon Description : Jesus hangs on the cross. He's thinking, "Some are just going to use this as a means to secure their privilege, while the disenfranchised will see this as a defiant undermining of that privilege." For them, the cross is a symbol of what it costs to challenge the privileged, the payment for standing up against those in authority, for resisting those in power and their self-centering agenda, and demanding that all people, all people, enjoy equal rights and privileges. For the privileged, Jesus suffered so that we don't have to.For the disenfranchised, Jesus also suffered to show us how.If you enjoyed this blog post, you'll enjoy my similar post, God, Privilege, and the Uncomfortable Truths We Avoid which I wrote after the kick I received when posting this cartoon.
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Transgender Day of Remembrance
Do you have a problem with this cartoon? Let me fix that last sentence for you by shortening it: You have a a problem. Cartoon description: Jesus and a transgender sheep hold one another on a heart-shaped float in the middle of the ocean. The murders and suspicious deaths of transgender people are increasing. They are being killed and so many more are being persecuted just for being who they are. Please support, protect, and love transgender persons.
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The Journey of Changing Beliefs
I talk about deconstruction: the changing of beliefs, the feeling of the loss of faith, leaving the church, and spiritual confusion. This is growth. And it hurts. Many challenge my idea of deconstruction, insisting that we must believe something. They say deconstruction means the rejection of wrong beliefs to make space for correct beliefs. No! The healthiest deconstruction is not just the questioning of beliefs, but of belief itself. Cartoon description: A man is building a house upon sand. Jesus asks him, “Why are you rebuilding your house upon sand again?” The man responds, “This is new and improved sand!” In 2009 this dawned on me. My lifelong struggle with beliefs, trying to figure things out and believe correct theological thoughts, suddenly came to an abrupt end, followed by a peace of mind that has never left, but stayed. I saw that it wasn’t my beliefs that were the problem, but belief itself! Beliefs are thoughts we are attached to. When we see this, our suffering ends. I know this is difficult and scary, because I’ve been there. Deconstruction is about tearing down not just beliefs but our conditioning… the way we’ve been taught and trained to believe. When we complete this excruciating process, we are left with space. Openness. Freedom. We are left with What Is. Reality. Truth. Being. What we must not do is adopt or construct another system of belief. I see many do this, assuming they’ve found or are building a new and improved theology. But I guarantee you that eventually this too will need deconstructing. Why not be happy with the space, the openness, the unknowing, the Mystery? This is where your peace of mind awaits.Don’t rebuild on sand.You are free! It took me years to deconstruct. Like…YEARS. You deserve to deconstruct safely and with as much support as possible so I've decided to share my deconstruction course for free on Youtube. You can watch all the videos now starting with this one.
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