Christianity 21 is just a month away, and we continue to highlight some of the voices that wil be coming to Denver to be part of this exciting event on the future of Christianity and faith. Here, Jesus Benyosef, one of C21’s 7-minute presenters, offers an introduction from his “character” who is coming to speak.
Blessed Are the Poorly Adapted
Blessed are those poorly adapted to their environment.
Blessed are the scrawny, slow, and sick members of the herd.
Blessed are all of us losers in the game of life.
Because a New Game is emerging in the world, and it determines winners and losers a little differently. We at the bottom of the heap are in fact the salt of the earth—the seeds of the future, the pioneer species of New Creation.
I’m not bashing the Old Creation. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. Nature has been doing its job just fine; it’s just that the job is now changing. Humans have thrived for over 2 million years on this planet because of our drives for aggression, sex, and consumption. But now our world is changing, and those very same instincts are driving us to extinction.
In the New Creation that is emerging, to survive is to:
- Resist all kinds of violence, even its “soft” forms where we dehumanize each other through language, litigation, and scapegoating. From here on out, solidarity and reconciliation are everything.
- Resist all kinds of sexual dehumanization and exploitation. People are not sexual objects for us to acquire and then discard. It’s time for our species to explore the frontiers of what it means to be faithful to one another.
- Resist all fear-based instincts for hoarding and devouring resources. We haven’t yet learned from the birds—they don’t even have jobs, but my Dad takes perfectly good care of them. The currency of the future is not startups and hedge funds, but relationships and trust.
- Resist that uniquely human sort of violence—religious manipulation. Don’t be spiritually impressive. Don’t try to control others by shaming them and giving them your un-asked-for pearls of wisdom. If you want a door opened, you knock on it; if you want something, you ask for it. No need for anyone to control anyone else.
Using violence/sex/money/religion to control others—it is an easy path, but a sure path to self-destruction.
Listen to me: All civilizations die eventually, but this one is going to die before its time, because it has been built on all the wrong things. Your chance at survival lies not in claiming me as your religion but by doing what I say. Those who hear my words and put them into practice will be like those little mammals who watched from the shadows as the meteorite landed on the dinosaurs. A hurricane is coming, and the “well-adapted” members of our species have built their mansions on sand. Don’t be one of them.
Jesus Benyosef is a traveling teacher, healer, exorcist, and overall troublemaker from Israel. He is a professional woodworker and an amateur biologist, and will be one of the 7-minute presenters at Christianity21 in Denver.
You can join his growing band of disciples at https://www.facebook.com/jesus.benyosef
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