"shame-based conscience may sound like the voice of God and condemn us when there is no condemnation"

According to this illuminating blog, the shame-based "conscience" is often a result of learned conditioning based on one's background, upbringing, culture and so on, in which one is exposed to conservative views of family, schools, churches and society. Unfortunately organised religion sometimes propagate the erroneous idea that the "conscience "is the voice of god condemning us when actually there is no condemnation. The gospel of grace and peace hence plays a part in liberating people from this crippling sense of shame and guilt by declaring we are already innocent, blameless, beloved and whole. Our true identity of innate perfection never changes regardless of our performance. This is good news for everyone indeed.

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.

How the Gospel Affects our Consciousness

I am coming to realise the gospel has much (if not everything) to do with our consciousness — the more we know and are conscious of God’s love, and the more we are established in the knowledge that God is love and He is good and only good, and there is no bad in Him, the more we will experience the reality of His goodness and love and mercy and grace working in our lives.

Psalm 27 seems to bear this truth – when David chose to do the one thing and behold the beauty of the Lord, he ended up living a victorious life.

Psalm 27:4-6
⁴ One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
⁵ For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.
⁶ Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.

Similarly, in my Bible reading two days ago, I learnt that long before King Jehoshaphat and his army were surrounded by their enemies, they first heard from a prophet who had a judgment mentality about God, for he had told them that God would deal with them harshly unless they tried their best to please Him – that must have caused them to be sin-conscious and fearful, and this negative consciousness manifested in their reality as the enemies suddenly approached to outnumber them (2 Chronicles 19 and 20). It’s only after Jehoshaphat sought the Lord for help, that they received the revelation that the beauty of holiness is found in praising Him for He is good and His love and mercy endures forever! The moment they started to be conscious that God is love and only love, and not an angry God out to get them, they started to reign supernaturally, and they even defeated their enemies without a fight, and they collected so much spoils in the following three days in the battlefield.

2 Chronicles 20:21
“And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:
‘Praise the LORD, for His mercy endures forever.’”

Similarly, it’s so important we all feed on the right kind of teachings that present God in the fullness of His love towards us, so that we will always be conscious that He is always with us and for us, and He has never alienated us from the very beginning, and His heart of immense generosity just wants to pour out and LAVISH His blessings on us His beloved children. Let’s keep beholding the BEAUTY and GRACE of our good Lord Jesus and Abba Father.

Video commentary:
Peace reigns in love consciousness. The gospel is about how perfectly God loves and favours us because Jesus is our true identity. This is the power of God to save us from fear, guilt, shame, ignorance and condemnation in the battlefield of our minds.

What Does the Climate and Weather Patterns Say about Our Collective Consciousness?

Since emotions are a form of energy, our emotions can effect the environment and weather patterns. Emotions are a form of energy, and perhaps an excessive amount of negative energy, such as anger, hate, fear, guilt, etc, contributes to tornados, hurricanes, flooding, etc.

We control the weather to a certain extent when we send negative energy into the atmosphere. Psalm 82 seems to suggest this idea. I think Joseph Prince mentioned something similar in one of his sermons quite recently, perhaps earlier in the year 2010. He was teaching about the importance of having a “no condemnation” mindset, because when people feel condemned and think negative thoughts about themselves and/or others, they can affect the environment and even cause adverse weather phenomena, like typhoons, around the world. So yea, the gospel is so important because when people align their minds with the good news that God loves them and is not mad at them, they will be at ease and at peace with themselves and with others too, and the environment will also be more peaceful (in terms of being free from natural calamities).

Makes me think that some of the natural disasters like earthquakes in the Old Testament were not caused by God (though they appeared to be) – they were probably caused by negative thoughts or emotions of the children of Israel when they were under the law — they felt condemned and bad things started to happen to them; for example, earthquakes swallowing up some people or the fiery serpents appeared in the desert to bite them (hence God told Moses to put the bronze serpent on a pole for them to look — to see that their guilty conscience (or accuser) has been judged and they should no longer feel condemned or guilty), or the armies of Moab and other nations rising up to attack them. You can read more about how the gospel affects our consciousness here.

Looks like we’re indeed living in a matrix world of sorts. So important then for us all to guard our heart (our mindset or belief system or our thought life) from fear and condemnation because out of it springs forth the issues of life. (Proverbs 4) It’s good for our hearts to be established with grace, as Hebrews 13 also says.

Sin-consciousness, condemnation, guilt… all these negative feelings contribute to our environments.

So, start thinking happy thoughts.

Related Posts:

The Effect of Human Thoughts and Emotions on Weather Patterns

Reflections: How the Gospel Affects our Consciousness