Annie Daugherty: What we resist persists

"i understand the egoic allure of (self-)'righteous indignation', that surge of endorphins in imagining oneself the sole defender of truth and justice. yet, in the end, what we resist persists, and Jesus offered some pretty good advice regarding the 'pharisees': "Leave them alone..." - Annie Daugherty

I think that is good advice from Jesus who had much experience in dealing with the Pharisees of his day. There were times he engaged them on a discourse about God and the kingdom of God, and there were times he disengaged from them and departed from them when they resisted his message and wanted to stone him. Similarly, when his disciples shared the gospel, they also learnt to shake the dust off their feet and moved on to another town if they were not welcome in a town.

I think today's Pharisees can be likened to those who do not see Jesus manifested in the flesh (in everyone on earth) and look forward to a physical return of Jesus in future, not realising the kingdom of God is in the here and now and is within us. This egoic allure of imagining oneself to be the sole defender of truth and justice is in everyone, including the Pharisees. For example, many a times, some modern pharisees/evangelists would claim to speak for "God" and pronounce judgment on some groups or some societies for not living up to certain expectations. That could also be a manifestation of the egoic expression of the dualistic self.

When it comes to promoting social justice and setting people free from oppression, we can follow our heart and intuition, as Jesus did. Sometimes it involves speaking up for the marginalised, just as Jesus defended the woman he healed on the sabbath day who was bowed down by religious oppression. Sometimes it involves speaking in parables which invite people, including Pharisees, to think for themselves what the kingdom of God means, as Jesus said, "he who has ears, let him hear." When people's hearts are open and ready or willing to learn more about the gospel, they will come to Jesus and listen more of his teachings, as it was in the case of Nicodemus the Pharisee.

Re: The meaner the 'god', the meaner YOU will be inside

Someone wrote:

"People generally live as both the 'god' they acknowledge in their minds and the servant of that 'god'...
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 ?"

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).

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.

Seeing our divinity with unveiled eyes

Someone said:  

"The word "evil" means "to veil"... All destructive behavior is born of our failure to see our divinity and to accept our divinity... I'm not a Christian and neither was Jesus, but the whole point behind forgiveness of sins is to remove this veil... this obstacle keeping us from loving our self... Most Christians completely miss the whole point of the Gospel entirely... they go on hating who they are and creating destruction as a result... The word Gospel means good news and yet most Christians have found a way to turn it into bad news."

It is interesting to see the word evil meaning "to veil", which hinders a person from seeing one's own divinity. It may explain why Jesus described the Jewish generation as evil because they failed to see their own divine nature. Jesus may have tried to unveil their eyes by telling them that their true identity is the light of the world. Perhaps the law had blinded their eyes to see the truth of who they are because they had thought they had to do something in order to become righteous. 

I am thinking that in Luke 11 when Jesus described whether their eye is single or evil, he could be referring to whether their inner eye/vision is veiled to see their own divinity. 

34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also isfull of darkness.

35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. 

36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

(Luke 11:34-36)

To me, darkness simply means ignorance of one's own divinity. Jesus came to bring light to dispel people's ignorance of their divine identity, hence darkness is overcome by light. Sin in the Jewish context also refers to ignorance or amnesia of one's true identity and forgiveness of sin means unveiling of one's true identity, as pointed out by the post. Back then, the Jews and Pharisees failed to see their own divinity and hated themselves and became destructive, to the point they tried to kill Jesus too. Similarly, as noted in the post, many people in Christian circles fail to see the gospel or good news of their own divinity and so they hate themselves and others, seeing themselves as sinful and unworthy. Even though they may be taught to see Jesus as their covering with the robe of righteousness, and know they are crowned with glory, the underlying message they get from institutional church is that there is nothing good in them and only Jesus is their righteousness. But that is the old covenant mindset because the Jews put themselves under the law. The law is the one that condemns, not Jesus/God. God has all the while seen everyone as innocent and perfect/complete because he/she/it made us in divine image and declared us very good. The gospel of inclusion therefore unveils our mind to see the truth of who we are and see our original glory in the face of Christ our true identity. We will have single eye that sees our body as being full of light, knowing we are the light of the world.

It's time to wake up and grow up

HEY CHRISTIANITY, WAKE THE HELL UP!

- Let's just be real. First of all, Jesus and Christianity have NOTHING in common. Christianity is nothing more than the Pharisees under a new title. Their so called Sabbath is a fashion show, and the main event is always the offering plate. They seem to think the Word of God is a book, and honor that which is dead, more than that which is alive (their own brothers & sisters). They say, you are a sinner, and you must accept Jesus, or else God who is LOVE will throw you into an eternal oven.

Come on' people, stop being brainwashed and WAKE UP! The bible is not a literal book. WE are the Word of God wearing garments of flesh. Jesus is everyman's story, a microcosm of ALL humanity, (he is you and me). Yes, WE are the living Christ, and the Kingdom of (love, joy, and peace) here and NOW! Please, stop waiting for that which is already here. The Pharisees could not see Christ then (in the form of Jesus), and the Pharisees (Christians) can not see Christ NOW (in the form of EVERYMAN). Humanity is Jesus the Christ if you have not yet caught on.

So please, grow the hell up and find out who you truly are. Stop being a bunch of fucking zombies walking around quoting scriptures and gossiping about each other. Stop believing everything you read, everything that people tell you, and learn to go within and find out for YOURSELF.

Have a beautiful day, PEACE!!!

- Matthew M

It is refreshing and encouraging to read the above post as he tells it like it is, that Christianity has missed the truth just as the Pharisees did. Jesus the Christ is indeed humanity himself. Back then, when Jesus told the Jews (after saying "today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing") that the non-Jews have received healing and grace instead of them, the Jews were mad at him and wanted to throw him off a cliff. Today, many of those who call themselves Christians are no different - they get mad when they are told that the kingdom of heaven is in and for everyone, not just "Christians". Like the Pharisees, they thought only they had exclusive favour with god (or rather their version of god).

As Matthew M pointed out, today's Pharisees (Christians) cannot see Christ now (in the form of every man). It is sad because the gospel is the good news for everyone, not just for "Christians" only. Christ came to show he is all and in all. It is indeed time for those who call themselves Christians to stop quoting scriptures to condemn or discriminate their fellow human beings, or gossip about who has "backslidden". Talking about that, I like Mike Myers' definition of a backslider -"a term used to describe someone who has enough sense to leave a cult"

Related link:

Blasphemy or good news?

Ten warning signs of a potentially unsafe group/leader 

10 Signs of a Cult

How Cults Work

How religion separates people based on ideology and belief system

Someone wrote in Yahoo Answers:

"If you are not sure and convicted for what you stand for, you will and can fall for anything. I cannot see, anyone, man or woman, having encountered and experienced the Love of the Lord Jesus, can attest to the salvation that they received and have had a genuine touch from God, easily go into a marriage with someone who is against Christ's diety, His Person and Work" 

The above quote is an example of how the Christian religion is separatist, elitist and sectarian in nature as it divides people based on their ideologies and belief systems. Those who adhere to the Christian religion are often divided over doctrines and may feel pressurised into pledging allegiance to whichever sect or denomination is preaching doctrines that align with their personal beliefs (and bias and prejudices). It is almost as if they fail to see that such indoctrination has made them self-righteous Pharisees who use their religion to judge and condemn other people for living and making decisions that offend their sanctimonious religious sensibilities. It could also be that they are living in their own prison of fear as they are afraid of "displeasing" the idolised god of their imagination, and they are projecting that fear onto other people. 

On a similar note, here's sharing a short story "A Father, A Son, A Cigarette, And Jesus" by Mick Mooney, which does a good job to illustrate how some people in the Christian religion typically use guilt and shame to control and manipulate others to try to make them conform to their socio-religious norms.

Luke 12:5 Perfect love that casts out fear

Someone asked, "How do you get a message of unconditional love from a figure who repeatedly said things like, "But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you in hell?" (Luke 12:5)

Has it occurred to us that Jesus wasn't referring to God or our heavenly Father in the above speech? Jesus Himself spoke of the "thief" who came to steal, kill and destroy. He spoke about Satan, who is a murderer from the beginning. Who is the murderer? Who is the thief? Who is the one who kills?

I believe Jesus was referring to Satan, who is not actually the personal devil, but that part of our conscience that accuses or condemns us. In the old testament, the devil actually was the manifestation of Yahweh, who is a figment of imagination of those who had a separation mindset.


So what was Jesus saying in the above context? I believe He was exhorting His disciples not to fear the Pharisees who might seek to kill them for spreading the good news of how good and loving our Father in heaven is. He told them to fear the enemy instead - the evil conscience who sought to kill by condemning them if they don't believe they are righteous and blameless - that took place in AD70 when the "condemnation of hell (gehenna)" was in the minds of those who had not believed the good news that they were already one with God.


Jesus went on to reassure the disciples that our heavenly Father - the true God - takes care of the sparrows, and we are of more value than the sparrows. Therefore, He can protect us from the murderer (Satan) as well as from the Pharisees. That, to me, speaks more sense about God's unconditional love - love keeps no records of wrongs, and love does not kill anyone! Love heals! Love protects!

In a nutshell, Satan kills but Jesus saves, heals, protects, and gives life. Satan (accuser of the brethren) is a life-taker and condemner, but our heavenly Father is a life-giver and justifier.


Jesus is the perfect manifestation of God. Jesus always tells people not to be afraid of Him. His love is the perfect love that casts out fear.