"People generally live as both the 'god' they acknowledge in their minds and the servant of that 'god'...The above quote sums up how people (especially in christian circles) become as mean as the god they subscribe to in their mind and how Jesus came to unveil the heart of God that is love. Many people in the Old Testament times, as well as many followers of Christianity today, had a mental image of a demanding, domineering god and they lived with a servant mentality to serve this god of their mind. As a result, they become mean and miserable - mean to others who do not believe the same way as they do, and miserable when they think they fail to live up the expectations of their god (a la mafia boss).
The meaner the 'god', the meaner they will be inside, yet accompanying this mindset is the need to serve this 'god', and with it a fear induced compulsion to be as nice as possible to 'him', giving 'him' credit for everything, and therewith being nice to other people in case you tick 'him' off, even though you really couldn't give a damn .....
What a horrible conglomeration of confusion lurks in humanity!
When asked how to communicate with God, Jesus speaks to some lads of the Jewish religion and to some others who were in the audience, all steeped in various mythological folklore ....
And he begins with 'Our father ...'
'Our Father ??'
What a blow to the mindsets of mythology, bringing the beginning of understanding to his listeners that would sweep out any concept of a domineering 'god who demanded to be 'served' or else !
Later Jesus says 'if you have seen me, you have seen the Father' and in the same conversation, he says 'I don't call you servants, but friends'
John, who penned the words of that conversation, had this to say about the one true God that Jesus introduced to us as 'Father and Friend.....'
"God is Love"
'Love is my father, Love is my friend !'
To have the understanding that Love is our beginning, our friend and our end, brings a profound settling in our hearts and minds, because we instinctively know this to be what is good and real and true, and it is in this environment that our 'beings' cultivate their best, where loving and respecting others becomes a natural outflow from the heart, and the warmth of true affection and harmony with others is our daily experience ....
To genuinely love Love and to love all our brothers and sisters naturally ......
Isn't this what real life is all about ?"
Jesus himself bore the brunt of their meanness and misery when he interacted with the Pharisees and the Jews who subscribed to the idea of a judgmental god, and he was called all kinds of names by them for challenging their discriminatory views and calling out their unfair treatment of others as well as their hypocrisy.
Yes, Jesus came to reveal the nature of God that differs from their fragmented view - that God is the father and he is the manifestation of the father, who is also their friend. He is the friend who loves at all times. I agree that when people know and experience the love of God through having a heart revelation of Jesus being their friend and of God being their father, they will end up naturally loving and accepting themselves and others.
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