Love and freedom

"If you spend a good amount of time around religious folk you soon begin to pick up on the fact that most of their focus and energy is upon being good. In order to achieve this goal they have built their individual and collective way of relating upon form. A set of rules and regulations that when kept do produce a temporary feeling of being good. This of coarse also comes with a side dish of fear and the realization that if you fail to keep up the rules you are no longer good. Leaving the evil religious empire we walk out into the realm of the secular world. Here we find the focus is not on being good, especially (your version of what that means), but instead on feeling good. Pleasure seems to be the highest rung on the ladder. For someone fleeing the strict rules of religion this can feel like the ultimate freedom. And though there is an allowance to participate in many things once forbidden you get the sense that you have traded on small jail cell for a much larger one. As I have observed these things in my own own life and in those around me I have found that in both you can have powerful experiences that touch things deep inside and as these are awakened they demand more from those systems than they are able to give. For me the freedom that I desire has not been found in form i.e.,the strict adherence to rules of men or in feeling i.e., the pursuit of what fulfills my senses, but in faith. Faith here is simply the belief that there is something apart from myself and those systems that can and has met my deepest longings. That which both the world and religion have awakened but failed to satisfy.The freedom it produces is not a freedom from religion or from this world but from myself. A freedom from a self centered life. A freedom from those deep longings that are motivating every human being as they strive to be good and to feel good.It seems for me that when I find this foundation beneath my feet the world and religion loose their hold over me and I can see clearly to move about and make rational decisions rather than feeling like a junkie looking for his next fix."

- Rodney Stepp

Yes, living a fulfilling and satisfying life would entail avoiding both extremes of religion/asceticism (trying to be good by following rules and rituals) and secular hedonism (trying to feel good by seeking sensual pleasures continually to find fulfilment). As the post noted, religion makes people temporarily happy when they think they obey the rules and miserable when they think they fail to be good. While secular hedonism may seem better, it doesn't satisfy one's deepest longings permanently. 

The middle path therefore is practising non-attachment to self and living a life knowing we are already loved and seeking the highest good of all. The pleasure that comes with seeking highest good is a complementary by-product. The act of loving and seeing others helped and blessed and uplifted is a pleasure and reward in and of itself.

 

 

Peace that passes all understanding

"The highest expression of Universal Mind otherwise known as God is Peace. (Peace in this context is the same as Love.) We are not referring to the ego's version of Peace which is nothing more than the opposite of conflict, but the Peace that surpasseth understanding." James F Twyman

Yes, peace as the highest expression of Universal Mind is much more than an absence of conflict or chaos as it goes deeper than the world's (or ego's, according to the quote) notion of peace. I think the peace that passes all understanding is available to every person regardless of their belief system or religion. For example, peace may be attained through meditation for followers of Buddhism, or through prayer for followers of Christianity and Catholicism, or through yoga for yoga practitioners, and so on. And yes, peace is equivalent to love because both stem from the same source of Universal Mind.

"Observing silence, and breathing deeply and gently is the easiest way to open the heart. You can also open it through sacred dancing and movements which incorporate the breath and encourage gratitude and presence in the moment. The method you use to fall into the heart is just a tool. Do not make it important. What is important is that you find a way to access the deeper aspect of your being which is at peace."
(From "The Silence of the Heart: Reflections of the Christ Mind" by Paul Ferrini)

Why people need a religion based on probabilities and science

"I'm beginning to believe, consider even, that the vast majority of people actually need a religion because they are incapable of being responsible for themselves and to themselves, nor are they capable, either by nature or nurture, to have independent thought. They need religion to control or to justify being controlled. If this is true, then they need a better religion, one based on probabilities rather than impossibilities, science instead of snake oil." ~Timm Chambliss

Yes, Christianity is dying right now before our eyes, and I believe those who hold on to mainstream Christianity or evangelical Christianity are doing so only because they are used to being controlled by the church leadership, as noted by Tim Chambliss. Even so, they would be better off choosing a better religion that is built on probabilities (or possibilities) and science, instead of dogma and superstitions.

I also wonder how long the existing preachers can continue to keep up their facade and pull the wool over people's eyes with their fear-based and separatist doctrines, in order to keep the religious business going. Whatever it is, more and more people around the world are indeed starting to question and reject status quo and compliance to norms in the church world and in society at large. We can only keep on sharing edifying materials that are helpful to ourselves and others concerning our innate oneness in the meantime, and witness the freedom being experienced by more and more people around us.

Also, the universe has its own way of getting the message across to people in their awakening process, so in the meantime, it is wise to keep a distance for the time being from those who are unpredictable and have yet to come to terms with their own shadows, so to speak, for our own safety. Each of us has to deal with our own shadows and is not responsible for others' shadows. Though we may still share thought-provoking and liberating materials with others from time to time, through our blogs, emails, etc, it is up to them to decide whether and how they allow themselves to be inspired and awakened. The old system of classism is dying, and people need to either evolve and grow along with the new system of equality or eventually die (with the old system), or at the least become irrelevant in the new era of higher consciousness and unity.

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.

Prayer, metaphysics and love

What is prayer actually?

I have come to realise that prayer is actually all about us making things happen with our thoughts, according to the power of intention. Prayer isn't what organised religion teaches about some god in the sky answering our prayers. I'm learning to see that we have the power to create our own reality with our thinking. Staying away from negativity in religion, politics, etc also goes in some ways to allow our mind to be filled with beautiful and empowering thoughts. I am learning to guard my thoughts when I read newspapers on Sundays, for example.

How is metaphysics applicable to everyone?

Having come out from the christian religion, I am now into metaphysics, which I find rational and scientifically explainable (in terms of quantum physics). I suppose the christian religion tends to demonise or stigmatise those who are into new age philosophy or metaphysics because the religious institutions want to monopolise their idea of divinity, thinking that only their version of god is the "true" god.

Secondly, the institutions want to have control over people with their fear-based doctrines about an angry and jealous god (which is only a mirror reflection of the shadow self), and so they would not like to see people being empowered to create their own reality instead of being co-dependent on them for guidance and support.

I have also checked out Carlton Pearson's latest status update on his Facebook wall, and I agree with his observations that religions tend to be divisive and controlling - "as long as we allow religion to divide and conquer us as a human race, any positive effect it can or is presumed to have on humanity is sabotaged."

I have come to see that the divine or the source is in every one of us, and no religion can ever claim a stake or ownership on our shared divinity, and say "Hey, that is my god, and he is called Yahweh/Allah/Jesus/etc, and you'd better bow down and worship and submit to him, and call upon his name and be saved/pardoned/accepted." The divine in us is too expansive and infinite to be ever confined within a particular belief system or religion or name.

How has love been religionised?

People who talk a lot about love doesn't necessarily show love to oneself and/or others. I think it's partly due to indoctrination in the religious circles, in which people think that the more they talk about "holiness", love, pleasing "god", living a "moral" life, the more they are seen by others as being "holy", loving, "god-fearing" and "moral" (or so they thought).

Unfortunately, by doing so, love becomes religionised, and love becomes a law and a burden for people to try to live up to their self-imposed standards. Love becomes a "have to" and "must do" instead of "want to". It also causes those who preach a lot about love to judge and feel condemned whenever they think they fall short of their standards, and they also end up judging and condemning others.

I am learning to "be" love, and recognise that no one can ever meet the kind of unrealistic standard that religion demands, because everyone is human and messes up in some way or other. It's better for people to focus on living loved and loving others and accepting ourselves and one another the way we are, than to talk a lot about love (which religion and society unfortunately like to do).

God cannot be institutionalised

The problem with the Christian religion is that it tends to institutionalise, literalise and concretise what is meant to be a metaphor. The whole bible can be seen as an allegory, being a collection of myths. The Christ principle revolves around Jesus Christ as a metaphor. 

The moment people literalise Jesus Christ, they idolise him and become attached to their idol. They get emotional and sentimental about their idol. This may appear harmless at first, but this religious mindset may create divisions among people because as long as religion makes Jesus an exclusive historical figure, there will always be an "us versus them" mentality - "Jesus followers" and "non Jesus followers".

But in reality, there is no us or them. Christ as a metaphor unites us all as one. Christ can be seen as a representative of humankind. We are the Christ, and we are the begotten Son of God. As Christ is, so are we in this world. 

Trying to institutionalise God only results in turning religion into a mental institution. People can go crazy when they think god is mad at them or they think they must fight and kill in the name of god. 

There are other metaphors similar to Christ principle, such as Tao, Buddha, Krishna, and Great Spirit. Each is a finger pointing to the moon. Each can be the way to lead us to the universal truth of our oneness with God or higher self, and oneness with one another.

How Great is the Divine

The Divine was expansive, but religion was reductive. Religion attempted to reduce the Divine to a knowable quantity with which mortals might efficiently deal, to pigeonhole it once and for all so that we never had to reevaluate it.
With hammers of can't and spikes of dogma, we crucified and crucified again, trying to nail to our stationary altars the migratory Light of the world.
~Tom Robbins

 Yes, the Divine is expansive and cannot be contained within the restrictive confines of religion. The expansive nature of the Divine reminds me of the Universe, which is also ever expanding. So are we, for we too are the Universe, and we are ever on a journey to know ourselves. The more we know ourselves, the more we discover there is so much to know, for there is an infinite depth to our soul. We are deep calling unto deep, and marvellous co-creators with greatness, power, beauty, wisdom and love within us that is endless. Hence, religion can never be able to do justice to the wonderful Us/Divine with their dogma. God/Us are like the new wine that cannot be contained in old wine skins, and we are like the unending spring that flows unceasingly with rivers of life. 

Sin is just a religious concept

Sin is just a religious concept. The reason people come up with the idea of "sin" is because they attach certain ideals and moral values to their own religion (whether be it christianity or judaism or islam, etc). The moment they do that, they become aware that they fall short of their own ideals or standards, which they attribute as "sin".

Thus, the very attempt to meet a certain criterion that they created in their own religion condemns them to failure because of their sheer humanness. After all, who can consistently keep doing "right" or thinking "right" or believing "right" every second, every minute, every hour? But oh, they keep on trying, thinking that one day they might become righteous or remain righteous. Some may think they have arrived. Some may think they may never arrive. So, who is right and who is wrong?

My answer is: Be done away with religion, and there will be no need for any self-imposed condemnation when one thinks one fails to meet the criteria, nor will there be any self-exaltation when one thinks one manages to meet the criteria, nor will there be any sense of condescension towards others when one thinks others have not managed to perform as well as one does. Without religion, there will be no sin issue. The only thing left is our identity as Love and Perfection, which remains unchanged regardless of our actions or belief systems.

What faith really is to people

Live Laugh Love

Don’t speak to me about your religion; first show it to me in how you treat other people. Don't tell me how much you love your God; show me in how much you love all his children. Don't preach to me your passion for your faith; teach me through your compassion for your neighbors. In the end, I'm not as interested in what you have to tell or sell as I am in how you choose to live and give....Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey

Knowing the fullness of God’s love and Debunking the myth of hell (Video transcript) – Part 1 of 2

I have decided to transcribe my message about the fullness of God's love and the myth of hell that I shared in a video in January 2011 so that it can be read at any time. Besides, I don't exactly speak in Queen's English, so my video might not have appealed to as many people as I would have liked to. Here is the transcript for the first half of the message. I have added subheadings where appropriate to summarise the main points in my flow of thoughts. Enjoy. :)

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Hello, I’m here to share the good news, and the good news of Christ is something that we need to hear again and again every day – we need to renew our minds, if we can.

Sometimes, faith comes by hearing. Sometimes, faith comes by reminding ourselves, wherever we are, because we are living in a world where there are condemning voices around us, if not from our own conscience, it can be from other people, whether we know them well or not. Sometimes, intentionally or unintentionally, the way they treat us, the way they say something to us, we may all feel a sense of condemnation, or a sense of being judged. But that is life; that’s how life on earth is.

Maybe as children, we were not so conscious of that, but as we grew up, we all tend to be more sensitive and more conscious of how other people perceive us. It may come as early as in our early teens, or in fact, children can be very sensitive towards that. And of course, when we were very young, when we were still babies, we probably were not that conscious because all babies probably have only two fears to begin with – the fear of falling down and the fear of being abandoned. But all other fears are learnt, as some psychologists might observe.

The Good News is about the Love of God

So, as we grow up in this life, we all need to have a sense of acceptance, a sense of being cared for, because after all, God created us to be loved. Out of that love, can we love ourselves and love other people. So, it all starts with God. We can’t start with ourselves, no matter how much we try to psych ourselves, or how much we try to meditate, or refer to self-help books. But these only are temporary solutions.

There is a deeper need in us, in every one of us, that God created heart-shaped vacuum within us that can only be filled and satisfied with the love of God. The good news is really about the love of God, and that love is really beyond our understanding or human knowledge, that Paul said that we might know the love of Christ – the length, the depth, the height, the width – that passes knowledge. That love is something that our human knowledge cannot grasp fully without the help of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit has been poured upon our heart to know the love of God. And we need the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth regarding how much God loves us.

Questioning the traditional concept of hell

Mainstream Christianity or traditional Christianity has made it seem like God loves everyone BUT… There is always a “but” at the end. For example, those who don’t believe in Jesus Christ, they will be seen as forfeiting the love of God, and the ultimate consequence for rejecting that love of God by not believing in Jesus Christ would be to end up in a place called “hell” or “the lake of fire” in the book of Revelation, but is that really the truth?

Because as we think about the love of God that transcends understanding, the love of God that passes all knowledge, would it be possible that such a loving God would want, or would allow, or would even create a whole time frame where finally all those people who have not believed in Christ, or have not heard the gospel therefore they did not have the chance to believe in Christ, would end up in a place called the lake of fire where they would be tormented day and night forever and ever? Is that really the truth? But most areas, most aspects, most parts of the mainstream Christianity seem to subscribe to that kind of teaching, even grace-based church.

So, I want to address that because that is something that has to be… The false doctrine will always hold people in bondage. This kind of teaching, the “turn or burn” kind of doctrine – “believe in Jesus or you will burn in hell” kind of teaching – will always turn other people away, whether believers or non-believers because even some believers will still question, “Oh, maybe there are some parts of the Bible I don’t think is right, but because I’m a Christian, I’d better believe, or else, just in case kind of thing.” Maybe their church elders may tell them “Well, if you don’t believe in hell, then it means you are not really a Christian.” That kind of thing only holds people in bondage.

Do we dare to rock the boat of Christianity?

So, we are here actually, each one of us is born free. Ultimately, we all do not like to be held in bondage in some ways. So, sometimes, we may believe a lie because our pastor tells us so, or we don’t want to question too much, we don’t want to rock the boat, and we are simply satisfied to be just Christians and believe that “Oh, we are saved, therefore I don’t have to bother about that, because anyway I am going to heaven, and I really don’t have to find out more for myself, so that I can share the good news in a more accurate way with others, and whether others believe in Jesus, I don’t care. They can end up in hell for all they want.”

But that kind of belies a certain self-righteous attitude no matter how much we try to excuse ourselves because I came from that kind of position before. I was self-righteous. I came to realise that God’s love is much more than that. If I were to just ignore this set of doctrine, ignore this false teaching on hell, and just live my life like any other Christian in the evangelical or mainstream circle, I would actually be forfeiting myself of knowing… I would be robbing myself of the full benefits of knowing the fullness of the love of God. And that includes whether God would really allow, or would really want, or would really have in His plan of salvation where some people will ultimately end up in the lake of fire to be tormented forever and ever.

So, how can we reconcile the fact that God is loving, and on the other hand, God, or rather we always say “Other people send themselves to hell by rejecting Jesus Christ?” So, what is hell like? And some people may say, “Well, I leave it to God, you know? Let God do what is just. Some people just don’t believe in Jesus Christ. Well, if that’s so, Lord, let God do what He wants. Maybe it’s torture. Maybe it’s torment in the sense of… whatever it means. Because some may say they are physically resurrected and then they will feel the pain or feel the suffering, and the Bible talks about worms and all that.”

The symbolic language of the Bible

But is that really the truth because the Bible is full of symbolic knowledge? And the book of Revelation is actually full of symbolism using the Jewish apocalyptic language, which unless we are familiar with the Old Testament symbolism, we would tend to misinterpret, and I have done that before. But we are here to know the truth because the truth will always set people free – free from religion, free from condemnation, free from fear, free from whatever that holds people in bondage in some ways that deny them the freedom, the peace of mind that they will feel at any point of time, not just when they are about to die, but any point of time, they may feel a sense of alienation or abandonment or being fearful that God will judge them if something goes wrong in their lives, so we have to settle this once and for all.

So this question of whether hell exists or whether hell is true or what does hell really mean – it does not just apply to when somebody is saved; it applies to even believers today because it will really affect what we believe in about our God – the God that we believe in. Is He the God of Christians only or is He the God of everybody?

What salvation really means

And someone might say, “Well, are you saying that everyone will go to heaven without believing in Jesus?” That is another erroneous question; it’s not even a scriptural question to start with because salvation is not about going to heaven; salvation is about having your spirit, soul and body made whole in every way. The word for “soteria” – that’s the Greek word for “salvation” – it means preservation, health, wholeness, prosperity, deliverance, protection from all dangers, deliverance from every evil in our lives, from lack, from any kind of addiction. So, it’s an all-encompassing word “salvation”. It is not “Oh, one day, we go to heaven.” That is actually the wrong question to start with.

But unfortunately, even in the evangelical world, even in the grace-based churches, “salvation” has that kind of connotation that “oh, you are saved from hell”. But no, it is not that. Yes, we use the Bible as our standard. Yes, we have the Bible… Someone called it the “word of God”, and I don’t want to go into that because the word of God ultimately is Jesus Christ, who is the Living Word. The Bible - we should not take it literally or else it becomes the “letter” that “kills”.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3 that “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” and he said the letter is simply when we take the Bible literally, it’s like using it as the law to tell people do’s and don’ts, and that stems from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and that is actually bringing condemnation into people’s lives, like you tell them “you have to do this in order to become something”. But the truth of the gospel is that we are already something – we are made in God’s image. There is nothing that we can do to change our identity.

So Jesus came to actually reveal (to) us that identity that has already been all this while, to cause us to remember, to wake up from our amnesia that we are already one with God, and we are made in His image. He has restored (to) us the glory and honour that Adam and Eve used to have. So that is actually the salvation that Jesus has come to give us in our spirit, soul and body.

When we believe the gospel, we will benefit from that. We will enjoy the benefits of salvation in this life. We know our sins are forgiven. And that is another question, I mean, another topic altogether because “sin” is actually referring to, or rather it applies to those who lived in the Old Testament times. They were under the law; therefore, sin was imputed to them. But we are not under the law in the first place because we Gentiles live after AD70, after the destruction of the Jerusalem temple, which actually signified the end of the old covenant age.

So we are actually living in the new covenant age, which is also called “the new heavens and new earth” in the last book, in the last chapter of the last book of the Bible – the book of Revelation. So now that we are living in the new covenant age, there is actually no “sin” issue. If you want to talk about “sin”, sin is only a matter of the ignorance of God’s love. Sin is called “missing the mark” or “falling short of the mark”.

So, if you want to talk about sin, the Lamb of God has come to take away the sin of the world. Well, in the Jewish context, it is actually taking away the sin of unbelief, and the sin of not knowing who they are. So, for Gentiles, you can still say the sin of unbelief, but He has taken away that. And even if we don’t believe, God still sees us righteous because 2 Corinthians 5:19 says that God in Christ has reconciled the world to Himself. So we are all reconciled, as far as God is concerned, He no more sees any sinner any more.

It is not as if you say some magic words, and say “Oh, Jesus is my Lord and Saviour”, and then God changes His mind about you. No, what and whether you believe that Jesus is your Saviour or not does not change God’s mind about you. God has already made up His mind that He has loved you with an everlasting love and He has always seen you as His children. It is up to you to believe that. When you believe, of course you benefit from that. If you don’t believe, the truth is still that God sees you as His children.

When you die, whether you believe or don’t believe in Jesus, you will still be with God because the last chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes says when a person dies, his spirit goes back to be with God who gave it. So we will all still be with God forever.

So it is a matter of “now”, here in this life. Salvation is for this life; it is not for one day when we die. I think I covered that in my previous video.

CON/science

I think the word "CON/science" is a creative play on the spelling and captures the essence of many religious teachings about the human "conscience". Yes, religion majors on the art of pricking people's conscience to the point it becomes a science of conning people to think there is something wrong with them and they need to fast, confess sins and/or do a thousand and one things to appease a displeased deity. It plays on people's guilt and fear of rejection, abandonment and punishment.

The preaching of penal substitution view of the cross doesn't really alleviate guilt either; it only perpetuates the illusion of an imaginary god with anger and ego problems. Hence, I believe when Jesus said you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free, He was saying that the truth will make us free from illusion, guilt, shame, fear and condemnation.

What is truth? 

Some evangelical christians think that telling the truth is telling people they will go to hell if they don't believe in Jesus. That's not truth because truth is synonymous with grace. Truth is about being free from illusion and ignorance. The good news is about God's unconditional love and our true identity in Him.

I also have been thinking about the question Pontius Pilate asked Jesus. After Jesus had told him "Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice", Pilate asked "What is truth?" I believe Jesus was saying those whose eyes have been opened to see the kingdom of God within themselves have known the truth, and therefore they hear His voice of love, grace and mercy. Those who were under religion (including the Pharisees) and world system (including the Roman governor) were still living in illusion and ignorance. They neither knew God as unconditional love nor knew their true identity.

When Jesus began preaching the gospel in Israel, He was essentially warning the Jews that in the days to come, there would be no more temple and no more sacrificial system. What then would the Jews do to get right with God (or at least they thoughts so)? They would probably experience a sense of alienation and condemnation when these outward rituals ceased to be. In the same way, today's religions still very much depend on outward rituals, like going to "church" etc, to get in the good books of "god". It's living in illusion. Truth is the antidote to illusion.

Truth is not con/science. Truth says we are already innocent, already blameless, beloved and favoured.