Showing posts with label David Hayward. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Hayward. Show all posts

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Don't let others try to dictate that path to you, no matter which label they currently subscribe to


"Be careful when you leave the herd that you don’t simply find a new one that suits your opinions better. You haven’t really changed. You’ve only switched.
Tweaking is the favorite pastime of the spiritually discontent.
Switching is the hobby of ego enthusiasts.
Waiting patiently, alone, to find your own self and path… now that takes courage!"
~ David Hayward
 Isn't there such a thing as social liberation?"
"Of course there is," said the Master.
"How would you describe it?"
"Liberation from the need to belong to the herd."
~ Anthony de Mello

It takes courage to find our own self and path because it can feel lonely at times. But it is worth being true to ourselves as no one else can walk our path, and the answer to our life's mystery lies in each of us, and we understand and experience it in our own way. Being free from the need to belong to a herd allows us to continue to find our own voice, and find our place in the universe - that is the university of life, as I learnt from Matthew Fox. We can enjoy communing with those whose paths may coincide with ours for a season, and we can continue to eke out our own paths when it diverges from theirs, without feeling obligated to belong to their group or any other group.




I read a post recently from a Facebook inspirational page that says when we follow the crowd, we will never be able to go further than the crowd. But when we walk our own path, we find ourselves going places where no one has been before. Indeed, we are designed to be eagles traversing the endless skies from horizon to horizon, and a chicken coop or aviary is too small and limiting for us. I learnt that each of us is born with our own spiritual DNA and we are meant to soar in our own paths, even as we exchange notes and learn from one another and encourage and build up one another in love along our journeys.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Christian Theology of Violent God is Both Misleading and Pornographic

Someone astutely observed that the preaching on law and grace is part of the dispensationalist christianity camp. I think that this observation is true as the teachings on law and grace tend to portray God as a legalistic judge who will one day execute so-called "judgment" on "unbelievers". As for me, I would subscribe to fulfilled eschatology (as the preterists do), and my understanding of "judgment" is in terms of the conscience of the Jews in AD70, who mistakenly thought their God was judging them when the Jerusalem temple was destroyed. So yea, it wasn't God "judging" them or anyone at all. It was simply the "roaring of the lion" in their consciousness - Satan or the human ego - accusing them, and trying to deceive them into thinking God was angry with them, when all the while, God is already one with humankind and is never separated from humankind.

Another realisation I had recently is that Isaiah 53 also mentioned it was man who thought God was angry with Jesus at the cross. Isaiah 53:4 says "Yet WE esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions". So it is clear that it wasn't God who smote Jesus at the cross, although it appeared like that to people surrounding Him. Psalm 22 also recorded that God was all the while with His Son - "For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from Him; but when He cried to Him, He heard." (Psalm 22:24)

The truth of the gospel is that God is not angry with humankind at all - not with His Son, not with any one of us. God is love, and love keeps no records of wrongs, so the penal substitution view holds no water.

Preaching of Violent God is Nothing More than Pornography

The online Merriam-Website dictionary has an interesting definition of the word "pornography". One of the definitions given is: 
"the depiction of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse a quick intense emotional reaction <the pornography of violence>"
It is ironic that many evangelical or fundamentalist church preachers are condemning people for watching pornography (which they often think is referring to sexual materials, maybe because they are struggling with sexual temptations themselves, for whatever one resists only becomes stronger), yet by their very condemnation of people with threats of hellfire and damnation, these same preachers are promoting pornography themselves without even realising it. Why is that so? Because they are projecting the "pornography of violence", painting God as some mean, vengeful and judgmental egomaniac. Not only are they manipulating people with guilt and fear, by preaching do's and dont's instead of the divine life indwelling people, the preachers are strengthening the power of addiction and temptations over them.

Want to see an example of a "christian" hellfire and damnation pornographic material? Well, for the sake of your health and wellbeing, I won't post the video here directly. I will just put a link here - watch it only when you are prepared. If you are already set free from religion and condemnation, knowing that the christian "hell" is a myth, then you may even find this video laughable because you know the person who did the voice-over was just being blinded, brainwashed and unconscious himself. "Oh the madness!" cried the preacher in the video. Yea, right - what a mad, crazy, looney fundamentalist preacher, that is.

Someone wrote, "I think that looking for God outside of ourselves is the problem; thus, I have chosen to reconnect myself to the real world. Therefore, I'm not an object of weekly incessant brainwashing, spiritual and emotional rape, psychological and mental manipulation and abuse anymore." I totally agree with that - what sweet freedom we experience - like a breath of fresh air - when we are no longer subject to the pornography and violence of evangelical or fundamentalist church teachings!

Related link: