Matthew 18

I decided to start reading from the Message today. Maybe because my legs are sore and it's the closest bible to me right now. Either way, I'm glad I did.

***Sidenote: For those of that haven't heard of the Message, it is not a literal translation but a paraphrase. It takes the words of the bible and paraphrases them in to words that we would use today. Snobby bible scholars are offended at its existence, I don't use it very often because my other bible has notes, underlines and highlights in it. Maybe today is the day I make the switch. If you are a snobby bible scholar, then I am sorry but my other bible is like 15 feet away and I met with a personal trainer yesterday and my legs are beyond sore.***End sidnote.

In other translations Jesus talks about binding and loosing, but in the Message Jesus says "A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven." That's pretty scary... It means that we have the power to make judgments for Jesus. Well, it's not intended for us to think that we can make those decisions individually, but the church can make those decisions.

So what happens when two different churches say completely opposite things? One church says divorce is ok, but other churches say it's not. Churches disagree on so much, so what does heaven say? What does Jesus say?

Honestly? I hope Jesus took these words back. I hope that at some point he said, "Remember what I said about your ability to make judgments, well I didn't really mean it. I had too much wine that day. I will handle the judging."

If Christians spent as much telling people about Jesus' love as we do arguing with each other then our world could be a great place to live.

As long as everyone was a Lutheran.