How to Avoid the Cross, the Stake, Stoning, and Beheading
You can’t.
Jesus said, “Take up your cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). Before signing up to do this, you might want to ask Jesus where he’s going. The answer is Calvary, the place of crucifixion. That’s why you need your cross. If he was going to the mall, he would have told you to take your credit card. But he didn’t, because he isn’t. And because credit cards hadn’t been invented yet, though he must have known about them because he is God and God knows everything.
Following Jesus, one of the greatest holy rascals who ever lived, means being a holy rascal. Following Jesus and being a holy rascal is to stand against the powers that be and proclaim the emperor has no clothes. And he doesn’t. But he has lots of fanatics whose primary job is to silence you. In the old days, the preferred methods of silencing were crucifixion, burning at the stake, stoning, and beheading. Today it’s mostly beheading. And Internet trolling.
Rules are made to be broken. Whoever said that didn’t make the rules.
RR
While the apostle John was right that “the truth will set you free” (John 8:32), what he failed to add was that sharing the truth might get you dead. But hey, what’s life without a little risk? And pulling the curtain back on the Great and Terrible Wizard is a lot more fun than jumping off a mountain in a wing suit. Or so I’ve been told.
Anyway, if you want to keep your head, never raise it up. If you want to fit in, never stand up. If you want to keep your voice, never speak the truth.