The early stages of radical Christianity is the me and Jesus phenomenon. Many believers remain in this realm their entire lives because they seem to not see beyond it.

Many times this is a realm where the inner Christ is performing many miraculous things in our lives. At this point He is showing us that He indeed loves and cares for us! With the possibility of greater things being on the horizon for us, we're finally convinced in real terms that He indeed loves us! Until this realization regesters we will not budge from the comfort zone of the me and Jesus syndrome!

The inner Christ can get into our bones and into our fibers once we get past the me and Jesus comfort zones! The metamorphosis of one's culture can begin to occur into what the Messiah really is! Our Love grows pure, we can Love unconditionally!

Our culture changes when He enlarges himself in us. Our children learn things about God and His ways by the culture now. Honesty develops in us at deep levels.

God desires that the culture is developed by the Spirit of Grace!

At this point in development there is a temptation. The present danger is this; we may try to help this process along by mandating things in our lives which we consider to be righteous and hereby fall prey to legalism.

The supreme focus that His righteousness is [imputed] to us and that there is no other righteousness, must remain front and center. If this does not remain front and center we will not preach the gospel according to the mystery of God, which is what the chief apostle stressed. The apostles are the foundations for the Bride i.e. the city of God.

The mystery of God must be the premise from which we preach and live, which is Christ in us the hope of glory! He's in individuals! Individuals receive him! He the living Word of God is grafted into us individually and is unequivocally the entirety of our righteousness! We can add nothing to him of merit. To add to Him is a subtraction from Him!

Any righteousness we add to the process of His salvation, is of self. It is of the mind, soulish. His righteousnes is of Spirit! Other forms of righteousness than His imputed righteousness may yield feelings of acceptance and approval but those feelings are counterfeit. We've been at work in the basement running off the counterfeit rather than allowing the heavenly gift to freely work in us!

If we proclaim another righteousness and life other than His imputed righteousness and Life, we are doing so from the premise of law or letter. We have fallen from the premise of Grace provided we have come to Grace! His righteousness occurs in us in single file.

These things are extremely important to understand.

As soon as Joe and John develop a righteousness and way of life by way of precepts and ordinances, Joe and John reveal that they have fallen from the premise of Grace. Gal.5:4. [Faith of itself does not produce these systems.] However these type systems develop what is called [their faith] but that is in great error.

If we are Joe or John, we do well to admit our sin and turn from our fall from the premise of Grace. We can find our way back to the Spirit of Grace in contrition of heart!

The counterfeit righteousness has a bewitching energy in it. We become controllers of men. We become sin-managers. We become judges of one another. We may even become afraid of one another.

The Spirit of Grace advises, edifies, forgives, and restores! Jesus came to restore what had been lost! He came not to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved or restored!

Is a true and radical christian culture religious?

NO! Spiritual and Moral? Yes!

The Bible can be the tree of knowledge of good and evil to us or the Bible can be a gate-way where we get in contact with the living God out beyond the page. Here we receive a washing of water by the Word of God! We mortals need these showers often!

Interesting thoughts Dug,

Yet I sometimes am troubled when people without sufficient clarification classify, knowledge or discernment of good and evil as eating of the forbidden tree. Yet I realize knowledge of good and evil does have various levels or aspects, and one could be bad although the other good. One level pertains to laws of behavior, and merely like a cold computer knowing what is good to do and not good to do. It appears some Christians do good merely as a cold computer. Yet Christians are to be filled with the Spirit and love and thus are to naturally do what is in the law, not because of just knowing what they are supposed to do. If one only does good because of knowledge, rather than because of the love of God being spread abroad in his heart he is missing the mark. I predict that is what people are speaking of when they condemn knowledge of good and evil.

Now the other level of knowing good and evil, does not pertain so much to laws of behavior and knowing what is bad or good to do, but pertains to knowing what teachings are good and evil in God's eyes. To know and understand the plan of salvation and the love and liberty of the Spirit is a very important knowledge of what is good. It likewise is also important to know that love does to others as he wants others to do to him. This is a good knowledge that Christians should be proclaiming every where. Concerning the knowledge of good and evil it further is important to know what teachings are evil. Some religious teachings are even the doctrines of devils. Thus may we know good and evil as we ought, without fearing we are eating of the forbidden tree. Further may God help us to do good because of having been born of Him and being good trees. May God have mercy on us.

"May God help us do good because we have been born of Him"
That's perfectly said.

That's the issue in a nutshell; we can Know Him or we can know about good and evil. "Eternal life is Knowing Him." He's the greater power! He's the greater tree!

Is a true and radical christian culture religious?

Doug, I absolutely agree with your thoughts about the need to make our relationship to Christ a matter of the heart, rather than just the knowledge of good and evil.  Yet, I do see in the Bible the beginnings of religion even in Christ's teaching.  The human condition is that we need tangible things and practices to remind us of the intangible aspect of our belief.  For example, in Matthew 26:26 where Jesus desciples took bread and wine to symbolize his body and blood, or Matthew 6:9, where Jesus taught the desicples to pray.  Or baptism could be another example.  These seem to be the beginnings of the ordinances, which are the beginnings of Christian religion.

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with religion as such, unless the tangible (religion) becomes more important than the intangible (faith).  I think there is a benefit in religious practice, because it reminds us of more important things.

Brent D.

I see your point in fact that some things point us toward the Spirit; on the other hand the many things of this nature seem always to denigrate into mere ritual. Who needs what, may be something to consider. The illerate masses in the dark and middle ages seemed to need quite alot of this.

Who am I and how much of God have I experienced, may well determine what tangible I need to keep me pointed toward the Spirit of the Lord?

We need the [fullness] of the Spirit even the seal of our redemption; without this we may have to depend upon many tangiles that keep pointing us toward the intangible. It's one thing to be recreated at heart level and it is quite another to be filled with God! This fullness was lost to the church in about 280 A.D. according to historians. The early rains of God's Spirit produced this testimony; "of His fullness we have been made to partake".

The latter rains of God's Spirit would once again release this fullness to His church. Consider James ch. five.