Lie #2:

   'God is huge and unapproachable, and He wants you to labor, 
struggle and live in guilt.'

~~~

Reader,

   2000 years ago, they wouldn't even dare say the word 
'God.'  God was distant, remote, and terrible.

   But Jesus had his own words for God, and he used them freely.  
They were controversial, even scandalous.

   His words for God:  

  'Daddy.'
  
   And 'Your heavenly father.'

   So when the Religious Gestapo condemned him for hanging out 
with ruffians and women of ill-repute, he told an even more 
scandalous story:

   'There was a man who had two sons.  The younger one said to 
his father, 'Dad, I wish you were dead.  Why don't we pretend you
are dead, and give me my share of the family estate.'  So the 
father divided his property between them. 

   A few days later, the disrespectful son packed his bags and 
headed for a distant land.  He squandered his inheritance on wine, 
women and song.  And when he had spent everything, a great famine 
arose in that country, and he got hungry. 

   So he got a job feeding pigs.  (Jewish people considered pigs 
to be utterly repulsive.)

   This young man would gladly have eaten the pods that the swine 
ate; but no one gave him anything. 

   But when he came to his senses, he said to himself, `How many 
of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but 
I'm here starving!  He went back to his father. But while he was 
still far away, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and 
embraced him and kissed him.

   The son said, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and before 
you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 

   But the father said to his servants, `Go get the best robe, 
and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his 
feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and 
have a huge party; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; 
he was lost, and is found.'

   Jesus sums it all up like this:  'I tell you, there will be 
more joy in heaven over one sinner who comes back than over 
ninety-nine people who are already good.'

   The father in the Prodigal Son story was not concerned with 
his dignity.  He was not concerned with what was 'fair.'  When 
his son wanted to go his own way, he let him go.  But he was 
watching out the window the whole time, hoping he would come back.

   That's Jesus' picture of God - just like the father in this 
story.  Loving.  Forgiving.  Approachable.  Not distant and 
condemning.

   Tomorrow I'm going to attack Lie #3:

   'You are not smart enough or good enough to think for 
yourself.  We will do your thinking for you.'

   Thanks for reading!

   Respectfully Submitted,

   Perry Marshall
   www.CoffeeHouseTheology.com 
   CoffeeHouse Theology, 705 Jackson Boulevard
   Oak Park, Illinois USA 60304

   Put a link to the 7 Lies on your website.