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Christian Lessons|10 Lies Of Religious Christianity
Jun 2nd
10 Lies Of Religious Christianity
I shall start with the most obvious lie of the religious churches, evangelism. It also goes by other names like missions, witnessing and sharing the good news. Regardless of the names used, the objective is the same. It aims to get others to believe in the same doctrines and subsequently become the churches’ supply of free labor and money contributors.
Why is this a lie? In order to make it easy to understand, let me give you an analogy.
Imagine one day you have a job offer. The job description is the same as what you have been doing all these years. So, you are well qualified to do it. The best part is the salary is more than 10 times of what you are receiving now in your current job.
Will you take up the offer? Of course you will. Only a fool will reject such a great opportunity. You pick up the employment contract and read the terms. They were written exactly as what you have been told. So, you signed on the dotted line to take up the offer.
Congratulations. You are now an employee of such a wonderful company. One the first day of your new job, you were sent to attend classes for orientation. In those classes, you will get to know the company and its policy. You will also be taught on company loyalty.
Then the company begins to assign tasks to you. Those tasks are different from what you should be doing as stated in your employment contract. However, it is not an issue because you are not that petty. You move along because you don’t want to give the impression that you are a difficult person to work with.
As days turn to weeks, you have practically forgotten about the contents of the employment contract you signed. When payday comes, you receive lesser pay than the amount you were promised. Your boss told you that you should be grateful that the company pays you at all and don’t be so fussy about it. After all, it is only money. As a loyal employee, your priority should be the company’s profits and not your own salary.
You end up doing more work than what the contract says and getting lesser pay than the amount promised in the contract. One day, you suddenly wake up and realized that you have been conned.
Does this analogy sounds extreme? The truth is, it happens in every religious church. All religious churches have 2 separate gospels for 2 groups of people. They have one version for Non-Christians and another one for Christians. I prefer to call this phenomenon as Multiple Layers Gospel. Altogether there are 3 layers of Gospel. I shall explain in detail.
First Layer Gospel
This layer is meant for evangelistic purpose only. It is only proclaimed in evangelistic settings and outreach projects. The message is simple and good.
God loves you so much that he gave his only Son to die for your sins. All you need to do is to believe in him. When you do that, all your sins are forgiven. There is nothing else for you to do because Jesus has done it all. You have eternal life. Your place in heaven is guaranteed. If you are to die at any time, you will end up in heaven.
Think about this. All other religions require their people to do things to reach out to their Gods and earn their place in heaven. Over here, Jesus has done everything for you and he made the first move to reach out to you. You can go to heaven without having to do anything. Just believe in Jesus and say the sinner’s prayer.
Don’t you think being a Christian is a good deal? Only a real fool will reject such a great offer. So, the right thing to do is to go through the process of becoming a believer.
The first thing you will experience is joy beyond description. Your outlook of life has become so clear and wonderful. You are glad you have become a Christian and you wonder why you did not believe earlier. You feel like you are in heaven right now.
Is this happily ever after? Fat hope. You are about to enter the living hell.
Second Layer Gospel
After you have become a Christian, you will be led to your first orientation. This can be one to one coaching (known as “follow-up”), an organized class in the church or a combination of both. In these lessons, you will be taught on the basic of Christianity like who is God, what he has done and what is the Bible.
In the next step, you will be taught on how you should behave as a Christian. You have to pray regularly, read the Bible regularly and attend church every week. Sometimes, you can be told to attend more classes for your spiritual growth.
As you attend more classes and Sunday sermons, you began to realize that they are nothing more than imposing rules on dos and don’ts on you. Your mind will be filled with a lot of things that you must and must not do. You are to serve in the church, go for mission trips, invite non believers to attend evangelistic events and give your money to the church. You may be saved by faith but they will tell you that faith without works is dead. This means you must do whatever they tell you to do. Welcome to the life of slavery and bondage.
Your church leaders can even have the right to ask money from you to finance whatever project they want. This had actually happened in my first church. The church pastors had decided to build an extension to the existing building. The cost was a few million dollars, which it did not have. They resorted to squeeze the church members for it. Every Sunday was fund raising day. In all their sermons, somehow every Bible verse that was quoted had a message on giving to the church building fund.
There was a leader who openly declared that God had provided the money for the church building. It was in our pockets. This means the church had the right to demand us to give it money because the money in our pockets was no longer ours. They were not begging anymore. They were demanding our money. This is the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. I left the church for this reason.
As I look back, I am glad this event happened because it helped me to realize how corrupt those pastors are.
Overall, in this layer you are to obey the list of dos and don’ts. The pastors will make you feel guilty if you fail in any of them. Even if you accomplish any, you will be told that it is not enough. Let me give you an example.
How long do you pray every day?
Answer: 5 minutes.
Reply: Not enough. You should pray for at least 15 minutes.
Answer: 15 minutes.
Reply: Not enough. You should pray for at least 30 minutes.
Answer: 30 minutes.
Reply: Not enough. You should pray for at least 1 hour.
Answer: 1 hour.
Reply: Not enough. You should pray for at least 3 hours.
And so on.
So, what is your answer? No matter what you say or do, it is never enough.
That is not all. There are some strange rules you have to obey. Some churches forbid their members to watch movies, read Harry Potter or do any work on Sunday. In my particular church, once the pastor had openly said that Christians must not pose for pictures in front of a temple. Here is the background. One of the popular tourist destinations for Singaporeans is Thailand where there are a lot of beautiful temples. Many tourists like pose for pictures in front of these temples. So, “wise” pastor considers it as a sin for Christians to take pictures with a temple.
All religious churches have their own unwritten list of dos and don’ts. I emphasize the term “unwritten” because none of them dare to put their dos and don’ts in writing. When asked, they will tell you to refer to the Bible. If that is so, why are they not written down? The truth is there are 2 reasons on why are there no written list.
First, a written list will expose the inconsistencies among them. Ten religious churches will have ten different lists. An act like watching a movie can be allowable in one church but it is a sin in another church.
Secondly, their dos and don’ts are not exhaustive. There are always new “discoveries” on new sins. The more sermons you attend, the longer your list of dos and don’ts will be. So, the wise course of action is to avoid going to church. Imagine, suppose the preacher tells you 5 things to do and you only manage to do 2 of them. You are guilty of 5-2=3 sins. If you don’t go to church at all, you will only be guilty of one sin, the sin of not going to church.
Where is the joy that you have when you first believe? It is gone and replaced with guilt. How can you not feel guilty? You can never do anything right. The system makes sure of that. The only way some Christians can experience joy is not to take their church seriously which I will explain later.
It that all the bad things that can happen to you? No, there is more. I have not told you the perversion yet. Let us go to the third layer.
Third Layer Gospel
This is the perversion level. The pastors will use the text on Apostle Paul’s description of the thorns of the flesh and story of Job to explain that God has a different definition on the word “good”. God is good. God is so good that he can give you disease, cause you to be knocked down by a car, make you bankrupt or any other perversions. The term “good” in the Third Layer Gospel has the same meaning as “evil” in the dictionary.
I can relate a story here. One day, my brother-in-law was hospitalized for some sort of disease. When my wife and I reached him in the hospital, I saw a group of people surrounding him acting like they were praying for him. After the prayer, a lady in the group said, “Maybe God wants you to rest more.”
Wow. So, God gives diseases to help people to rest. Are you impressed? If you are not resting well, don’t worry. God will give you some disease to help you to rest. When you see sick people, tell them that their sicknesses come from a loving God who wants them to rest. How about those who died from disease? Well, God must have loved them so much that he kills them so that they can continue to lie down and rest for eternity. Are you not glad to have such a wonderful God?
How do you know that your God loves you? The answer is, he gives you good things in your life like making you sick, causing you to have road accidents, burning your house, killing your loves ones and many other similar things which the rest of the infidels will call perversion.
Such “good” things are not only for God to display his love. He uses the same things to punish people for their sins. Do you know why disasters like earthquakes, typhoons, bush fires or terrorism happened? It is the judgement of God to punish the people involved for their sins. The most popular of those sins is abortion and followed by homosexuality and stem cell research.
If you want to be a prophet, there are 3 ways to do it.
The first way is to wait for any disasters to happen. It can be natural disasters like earthquakes or man-made ones like terrorism. The only criteria is, it must kill a lot of people or cause a lot of damages. Then you proclaim publicly that God has spoken to you and he told you that the disaster was his judgement on the people for their sins. What sin should you use? The safest bet is abortion, followed by homosexuals and stem cell research. This tactic works every time. You will establish your career as a prophet.
The second way is to proclaim publicly that God had spoken to you and he told you that he wants to judge the community that you are in for their sins. You can use back the same sins as above. Then you invite your congregation to join you to plead for mercy. If any disaster happens in the next few days, you hit the jackpot. You are now recognized as a true prophet. If nothing happens, you can always fall back on God’s mercy. God has heard your plea and he had decided to cancel his judgement for your sake. So, you are right regardless of any disasters happening in the next few weeks. Heads you win, tails you also win. Isn’t it cool?
The third way is more personal. You will need a huge audience. Proclaim publicly that God had spoken to you and he told you that someone in the audience had a specific problem. Describe the specific problem. If the population is big enough, you will hit someone with the exact problem. This person will be your advertisement.
These are the 3 ways I can think of that can help anyone to be a prophet. It is based on this layer of Gospel. If you are in this layer, you are the living hell.
This sums up the Third Layer Gospel. The next question is, do everyone in a religious church equally miserable? The answer is no. There are exceptions.
Exceptions to the rule.
There are people who attend church services every week. They walk in, sing the songs, perform the rituals and sit through the sermons. However, after they leave the church, they will forget everything inside there and live the life they want. So, they are not affected by the toxic. I consider them to be the smartest people in religious churches.
Conclusion.
With the exception of the analogy, the above facts are real. You can experience them in any religious church. How to find religious churches? The first clue I reveal in this chapter is evangelism. Religious churches are very obsessed with it. They are so committed that they are willing to resort to threats and blackmails to get their members to do it. A religious church is an evangelistic church.
When you see Christians on the streets trying to get people to the church or sharing the gospel, don’t be too hard on them. They are just victims of threats and blackmails from their churches. Try to be sympathetic instead.
The complete book is available from http://www.youpublish.com/files/27950/10-Lies-Of-Religious-Christianity
My name is Yeap Chee Seng. Currently working as a resident engineer. I own a blog at http://cheee.wordpress.com/ focusing on faith, deliverance and prosperity. I have also written a book entitled “10 LIES OF RELIGIOUS CHRISTIANITY” available in http://www.youpublish.com/files/27950/10-Lies-Of-Religious-Christianity
For more information on my works, please visit my blog at http://cheee.wordpress.com/
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Christian Lessons|The Influence Of Christianity On Childhood-A Christian Perspective
May 31st
The Influence Of Christianity On Childhood-A Christian Perspective
The framework for societal understanding of the nature and the place of the child has for a very long time been shaped by the church, upon which all depended for direction and guidance. For instance, when a child was born, during the medieval period and even today in quite a number of places across the world, it was a requirement that that child undergo the Christian rite of baptism. The aim was to ensure that the child was incorporated into the particular society. Now every society is governed by particular rules and regulations. In Christianity, the most prominent figure of childhood was that of Jesus Christ, who also happens to be the founder of the church. It was understood and required therefore, that every child be shaped within the context of Jesus. This is because Christ was the model, and so ideas like the pure childhood, holy childhood, were all coined based on this understanding. As soon as the child was baptized, it was expected that that child would conform to the demands of the Christian principles. The question that comes up with regard to this understanding is whether Christianity was sufficiently informed about the teachings that it imparted on the people regarding the child and childhood. At some point, there were cases of indoctrination, whereby children were forced to believe that the kind of knowledge they were given was the absolute truth, and were therefore required to follow it with great religiosity.
The greatest model parental guidance is the family of Nazareth, which is considered by Christianity as the most exemplary family. The parents of Jesus therefore provide great lessons on the ways in which childhood is to be ordered.
The Christian Culture and Childhood
Christianity is a culture by its own rights. This is because, every aspect that is found in Christianity has been founded on the Jewish culture. Therefore, this culture has greatly shaped the understanding of childhood. For instance, the child was considered inferior to the adult. This is why it would be unacceptable for a child to stand against an adult, while there was no problem for an adult to stand against a child, with a reason of course. This placed children in a very risky situation, because children were somehow vulnerable. Children did not have a lot of defenders in this situation. It is common in the Bible for instance, to find children not being counted, because they did not total to a person. This view shaped the idea of childhood for a long time in many parts of the world. Children were expected to stand for instance, when an adult was passing, and so on. Childhood became like a punishment, and children craved for the time that they would become adults. In this way, childhood was not enjoyed, and as science today reveals, this situation leads to even more complicated situations. This understanding of childhood was very well seen in the medieval period, where in many societies, even today, children were not considered as comprising the membership of their particular societies. This of course meant that children could for instance not work, and so on.
The Idea of Innocence
This idea has become widely accepted among the non-Christians. It is common knowledge that children are innocent and pure. According to Christianity, the child is born in a state of innocence. This understanding has been greatly informed by the fact that children had traditionally been considered incapable of making informed decisions, meaning that they cannot be held accountable for their acts or omissions. This idea of innocence however, is kind of contradicted by the understanding of the original sin, which is taught by the church. The idea claims that when a child is born, there are certain sins that somehow pass onto the child from the first parents, Adam and Eve, through what has been referred to as propagation. Therefore, although a child is claimed to be innocent, they are required to undergo a certain kind of ritual, in order to be purified from this sin. The contradiction lies in the fact that the child cannot be innocent, and have a hereditary sin at the same time.
The idea of innocence has also been greatly contradicted by the fact that Christianity teaches that a child is born with the potential to be sinful, what has been referred to as concupiscence. If it is absolutely clear that childhood will at some point be riddled with sinfulness, the dormancy which is seemingly there cannot be considered as innocence. It is for this reason that the idea of childhood innocence as advanced by Christianity seems to lack sufficient ground. At the same time, it is important to make a distinction between innocence and ignorance. Christianity has for very long time confused ignorance in the child with innocence. This is because, if there was innocence, it should not be lost. However, it is very clear that as soon as a child develops further, innocence is lost, or rather, the ignorance is gone, and the child becomes informed about the realities of life. This cannot be considered innocence; it is pure ignorance. John Locke came up with the understanding that a child is born with absolutely nothing in the mind. In there is only the potential for acquiring something. Innocence can only be acquired where knowledge has already become possible.
The claim of childhood innocence has also been very greatly boosted by the scientific claim that mind lacks full development. This claim does not suffice for the claim of innocence. In other words, the fact that the mind is not fully developed does not mean that there is no sufficient knowledge of moral issues. Therefore innocence as such cannot be fully justified in childhood.
The author Anna Petrescu has academic writing experience of over 5 years. She holds a PHD in education from Cambridge. She has been assisting students in writing professional academic papers including thesis, dissertations, research papers and term papers. bestessayscenter.com
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Glimpses of Esoteric Christianity Part 5
May 31st
Glimpses of Esoteric Christianity Part 5
The comprehension of Karma as revealed to the masses by Jesus is an improvement of the old interpretation and understanding of the principle of a previous dispensation of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” as given to the Israelites by Moses. To illustrate this, the law does not cause blindness as a punishment to an individual if he had blinded someone in the past. It does, however, make him aware, in some manner, of the wrongness of his actions–even if it does take blinding him if other means fail to make him realize his error. Should the individual realize his mistake, sincerely repents and compensate, then the lesson would have been learnt; he would be putting new forces into motion which offset the original negative impulse. Karma is not punitive. Negative karma is neutralized to some degree by implementing positive causes–these are the laws of grace and mercy at work. In contrast, even if it happens that balancing of karma should occur, and that the individual does not learn, repent and compensate for his wrong deeds, he might repeat it again or the “punishment” might just occur again and again, lifetime after lifetime, depending on the proportion and momentum of the original force, until all of its misqualified energy is spent. Also, undigested and unassimilated experiences are undergone repeatedly until the inherent principle which the experience is intended to teach is absorbed.
Every entity or group of entities create karma; hence, we have such collectives as “group karma,” “racial karma,” and “national karma.” Karma functions under cyclic law and in accord with esoteric astrological configurations. Its effects are dependent upon the ratio of the forces put into motion and the situation with which the deeds were committed. Some effects are immediate, while others requires a passage of time for the force to return full circle, even deferring until a later lifetime. Karma, therefore, is conditioned in its full expression and is divided into two groups:
1) Ripe Karma, where the effects of deeds and actions occur in the same lifetime.
2) Unripe Karma, where effects of deeds and actions are postponed to a future embodiment.
According to one modern school of Esoteric Christianity, a dispensation had been given in our century by the Cosmic Directors of Karma for the spiritual aspirant to transmute his karmic sins and tendencies. This dispensation takes the form of an invocation (actually Hindus and Buddhist have been using similar techniques for centuries) to that aspect of the Holy Spirit called the “violet flame.” This is the “consuming fire” of God mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. The violet flame when active in one’s energy-field, transmutes the cause, effect, record, and memory of sin and karma until one becomes immaculate:
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isa:1:18)
The effects of the violet fire brings us that much closer to our perfection and ascension into our God-Presence. When freed from personal karma, the disciple is ready to take on a higher burden of transmuting world karma to some degree, to assist suffering humanity to march onwards towards the light. This was what the Master Jesus did. He transmuted part of world karma–esoterically “saved the world.” Much still has to be done and the individual is still responsible for his sins and karma–the quality, nature, and status of his own energy-field, his soul-record–this was not cleansed by the death of the “savior.” The Master Jesus “died” for the awakening of the collective consciousness of Man, not for the saving of any individual.
The overcoming of karma in one’s life requires an understanding of the situations that one finds himself facing, and a constant vigil and check of all inharmonious expressions or our being. Moderation in all sensual activities assists greatly in reducing negative fruit, such as pain and suffering. Below we give some guidelines to negate karmic influences:
1) Invoke the violet flame on a regular basis.
2) Control of the mind and emotions.
3) Act, think, and speak beneficially.
4) Offer oneself to selfless service to humankind.
5) Be unattached to the fruits of actions.
6) Steer the mind away from sensuality by focusing on one’s divinity.
7) Seek the spiritual wisdom and teaching in one’s life-experiences.
Light
Light manifests in the mind of man as illumination, enlightenment, and an expansion of consciousness. Light, as Truth, is the illuminating mystery given to candidates of the Christian Mysteries who had previously undergone the required perfection, the period of spiritual cleansing. Those who were free from the stain of sin were offered the secrets of the Light for further advancement along the path of the ascension, for sinlessness alone were inadequate to lift man to the portals of the Kingdom of God and thus unite him with his “I AM Presence.” In the gnostic work, Pistis Sophia, Jesus has this to say about the illuminating mysteries:
“But amen, amen, I say unto you: even if a righteous man hath committed no sin at all, he cannot possibly be brought into the light-kingdom, because the sign of the kingdom of the mysteries is not with him. In a word, it is impossible to bring souls into the light without the mysteries of the light kingdom.”
In the same gnostic work the Christ initiate also reveals one of the main purposes of the Mysteries of Light which man should seek, rather than the baubles of this impermanent world:
“For this cause have I said unto you aforetime: ‘Seek, that you may find.’ I have therefore, said unto you: ‘You are to seek after the mysteries of this light which purifies the body of matter and make it into a refined light exceedingly purified.’”
“For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” (1Co:15:53)
The above verses refers to the etherealization of the physical component of man. It is a standard practice among the practitioners of Esoteric Christianity to surround themselves with light in their visualizations and meditations for alchemical and spiritual transmutation. Besides having the effect of healing and purifying the aura, the precipitation of light particles within one’s being also accelerates the vibratory rate of our various sheaths, or bodies of the Soul and Spirit. The light that purifies and illumines should be constantly invoked by the spiritual aspirant. To purify and spiritualize the atomic particles composing one’s being by applying divine fire is only part of the spiritual transformational process; however, the other part is the work of refraining from assimilating additional coarse matter. Jesus advises us to:
” . . . renounce the whole world and all of its association, that ye may not amass additional matter to the rest of your matter in you . . . “
This renunciation is not the actual giving or selling away of one’s earthly goods and to live somewhere in poverty as an anchorite or as a vagabond. The rich man that Jesus advised to sell his goods and to follow him has a different connotation. “To be in this world but not of it” is the clarification of the precept above–in other words, detachment, earthly desirelessness, harmlessness, the living of soul-purposes, etc. One may be wealthy or poor, known or unknown–it makes no difference. It is how we live our lives that counts.
The Pistis Sophia, like the aphorisms of Patanjali, advises us to renounce various vices such as slander, pride and haughtiness, love of the world, cursing wrath, pitilessness, avarice, and sloth. To renounce vices and to acquire virtues, man should contemplate the holiness and sacredness of God, Nature, Life, and the intrinsic essence of all sentient beings. His attention should be reoriented from a materialistic three-dimensional perspective and habitual pattern to a spiritual outlook and way of life. By constant living from the spiritual standpoint, man acquires that state of harmony, that freedom from the chaotic mentality and emotionalism that characterizes the worldly man. Harmony is organization–organized thought, speech, action, living, and movement. The light of the trinity of the godhead stands at the door of the waking consciousness and knocks–and waits. Harmony within the four-lower bodies which reflects the harmony within the Tao, in conjunction with certain spiritual practices opens the etheric valves which allows greater influx of spiritual forces, magnetizing the lower sheaths of man’s energy-structure with an abundance of power, love, and wisdom. Divine forces enter man’s being via the sutratma, antahkarana, and the sahasrara chakra.
Once illumined by the Light of God, man becomes a living flame. He lives as a focus of Omneity’s divine presence. Radiance, magnetism, and power of his Divine Self fills his aura till his “cup runneth over,” and his very presence affects all with whom he comes into contact. It is the nature and desire of God to make men “his ministers a Flame of Fire” (Heb 1:7). Each enlightened person, as a Flame of Fire, ignites fellow souls slumbering in the mayagrammic world. This stimulation occurs by magnetic, and telepathic induction on all levels of being. We may allow the “dead” to bury the dead; but it is our personal task as torch-bearers to revive those that needs awakening and resurrection.
Light from a cosmological point of view, is the essence of all matter. It is the primal energy which manifests in substances that composes our universe. Matter is densified light. Between matter and the pure Light of Omneity are manifestations of God-radiance in varying intensities. Light was the first emanation of Omneity, it is the manifestation of the Supreme Godhead’s first spoken creative impulse–”Let there be Light.” (Gen 1:3). This fiat was not the creation of the sun and its radiating energies but something more subtle and lofty.
Light is often identified with the Word, the Pranava “OM,” which is in a continuous reverberation throughout the cosmos. Hindu mystics call the Sound, “Sabda Brahma.” The Sufis are acquainted with the existence of this Word-Light; they refer to it as the “Kalam-I-Aadim,” meaning, “the Ancient Sound.” Christian mystics, on the other hand, figuratively call it “the Rush of a Mighty Wind,” and “the Sound of the Trumpet.” Gnostics, Hindu and Buddhist Tantric mystics, and High-degree Sufis initiate candidates to the gnosis or marifat where the Divine Light and Sound emanating from one’s very essential being, the very essence of God, are experientially seen and heard. Blind faith and beliefs are replaced with knowledge, experience, and conviction. One perceives God’s radiant countenance face to face and is transformed thereby; no longer is the on-looker a mortal or lives as one but spiritually immortal as he “sees” his very SELF as “Sat-Chit-Ananda,”or “Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.”
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. (Matt 5:8)
“And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19:26)
“And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” (Ex: 33:20 )
“And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.” (Ex 33:11 )
Indeed, after perceiving one’s essential SELF, one’s “I AM PRESENCE” one is never the same; one no longer lives as a man or as a mere mortal. One becomes the anointed, a Christ, an immortal god–the hope of Job and the Pure. Is this not what was requested of us:
” . . . I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)
Or in other words,
“I AM the true model and I represent the true way of attaining that Divine State of Sonship. Become as ‘I AM.’”
This possibility is the essence of the gospel–this is the good news–this is the kingdom come–this is the Resurrection–this is the Second Coming. This is the promised Kingdom of God that is at hand and not located in some astral realm or to be entered into in the afterlife or during the Apocalypse in the last days. It is NOW that the kingdom of God is to be attained by one and all–no matter what your religious affiliation. May all heed this and live a purposeful life.
Man’s Divinity
Man’s true nature and reality was a hushed subject that the Christ Initiate taught to the inner circle of his followers. Some of his statements concerning man are to be found in the gospels. His enigmatic sayings about his relationship to his father were statements of truth that applies to humankind collectively, and was never meant to indicate to the masses of any exceptionality on his part as a sole “son of God.” As a result of this misunderstanding, perhaps deliberately, of the words of the Master, modern Christians worship the son in the form of Jesus and not in the light of the Christ divinity within. Throughout the centuries, the precepts of man’s divinity have been overlooked, misinterpreted, and misrepresented. The human, mortal, sinful side has been unduly stressed and emphasized to a morbid degree. The Light shone in the darkness, but the darkness took no trouble to understand its nature and source. There are those that fear Light in the form of truth, for its nature reveals the true state of things–things which are uncomfortable to those who resent movements in an upward spiral by personal effort. Jesus and other prophets before him declared that men were gods,
“I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” (Psalms 82:6)
“Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.” (Isa 41:23)
“Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?” (John:10:34)
That we are more than mortals is echoed in the “Thou art That” proclamation of certain Hindu philosophies. This divine precept of man’s divinity is shun by the followers of orthodox Christianity as a teaching of the devil and not acknowledged to be true because of their erroneous comprehension of the scriptures and the faith that they have upon the dogmas and creeds arbitrarily created by corrupted theologians. People are indoctrinated to believe in things that do not reflect reality, things that mostly cannot be verified by personal experience. Where there is a lack of intuitive understanding, where ignorance and fanaticism holds sway, the mind and emotions will cause the jiva or soul to stagnate in a bog of their own construction. This imposes self-limitation, self-restriction that is well depicted in Plato’s Cave allegory.
Man believes what he wants to believe, and until he replaces beliefs and fancies with experiential knowledge of his divinity he will continue to experience the torments of “hell”–the pain, suffering, fear, and anguish. Herein lies evil, for evil opposes all activities that frees the soul from bondage to matter, from advancing on the path of evolution; and man unconsciously swims against the currents that would lead him to the other shore.
Man is considered by atheistic scientists as a being of matter; religionists sees man as a creation, a creature fabricated by the Source for glorifying and worshipping Itself by making Its creatures sing hymns of praise eternally, for the benefit of who knows whom–for that which is egoless requires no recognition of its SELF-existence, as It is in a state of completeness, of oneness with the hidden nature of its illusory elements as perceived by man. Prayers and worship are never for God’s benefit but for the beings engaged in the revered adoration.
It is from the sages of the world that we learn of their personal experiences of what man truly is, and by following in their footsteps we come to know ourselves. The sages present methods with which the gnosis, the Truth may be known. By applying their methods we in turn gradually recognize the accuracies of their statements concerning man–some uttered while in transcendental states. The rationale of the statement of Jesus mentioned before–”I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” may be understood clearly through the intuitive sense.
Most people focus their consciousness, their attention excessively upon externals, upon a world of illusions, to the detriment of their spiritual unfoldment. This overconcern with earthly baubles drains the mind, body and soul of the energies that would call forth the treasures laid-up in heaven by man’s obedience to the laws of the Voice of Silence. Christ is the cosmic nature within each individual; the so-called second coming of Christ occurs within the psyche where man experiences and manifests his internal reality in the world of form, in the sphere of Malkuth. To focus constantly within, as in meditation, and in certain forms of yoga, one retains the required amount of force to awaken and stimulate the Shekinah, the flickering fire of God’s manifestation within man, residing in his heart chakra as the threefold flame of Love, Wisdom, and Power.
Man emerged out of the fiery core of the Great Central Sun, or “Parabrahm” in Hindu Philosophy, as a spark. The essential nature of this spark, this “unit” of Brahman, is divine. It is a manifestation of God-in-becoming. Out of this monadic spark the Divine Ego, or Atma, was formed and individualized as Self-consciousness. Its nature is threefold: it consists of the divine spirit, the life spirit, and the human spirit. The higher aspect of the Divine Ego is the Christ in man, which is the way to oneness with the Father in heaven, the Monad focused in celestial planes. This Monad is Ishvara in the Samkhya philosophy of Hinduism. The Divine Ego is the progenitor of the personality, the jiva, the manifestation of man in the lower worlds of matter. A portion of Egoic consciousness lies buried in the etheric heart awaiting the outer consciousness to acknowledge its existence and to manifests its essential qualities and nature in the physical plane. Its growth is dependent upon the personality offering it freedom of expression in its sphere of activity.
“God is Man, and Man is God.” This is a metaphysical truism which should be mystically understood. If interpreted literally, this spiritual truth would seem blasphemous. God is eternal and infinite, so is man, for man as the microcosmos reflects the spiritual structure of the greater cosmos. God is acknowledged by enlightened individuals to be ineffable, indescribable. When contemplating man’s true nature, one finds oneself in a similar position : Man transcends words, it is impossible to describe that which is actually beyond and void of physical, feeling, and mental structures.
Depreciation of the true Ego and the exaltation of the false ego are expressions of egoism. Indulgence of such mental states prevents spiritual awakening. Man wrongly identifies himself with the components of his manifestations in the realms of matter. For instance, he believes that he is the body, the feelings, the mind, etc. This misidentification stalls the unfoldment of the faculties and powers of his divinity which grows within man at the objective consciousness level as he acquires a greater perspective of his true being and expands his consciousness to encompass higher states. Egoism is an idol that man unknowingly places on the altar of his consciousness–and he worships this monstrosity; and each time that he thinks, speaks, and acts imperfectly, negatively, unculturedly, and destructively, he exalts the deceiver of men, the beast whose number is 666.
Copyright © 2006 Luxamore
Christianity|Gary DeMar and “America’s Heritage” — Unsuccessful Effort to Link Christianity and the Constitution
May 30th
Gary DeMar and “America’s Heritage” — Unsuccessful Effort to Link Christianity and the Constitution
“America’s Heritage” by Gary DeMar is an unsuccessful attempt to link Christianity and the U.S. Constitution. The book was published by Coral Ridge Ministries in 2002.
A Christian Constitution?
The fundamental question is posed in the Introduction, “America’s Christian Heritage: Fact or Fiction?” The foregone conclusion is “fact,” and the book presents the usual assortment of quotes from various Presidents and Supreme Court Justices as evidence. This line of indirect testimony continues throughout the book. Plaques and inscriptions in Washington D.C., the Christian founding of various colleges, and official national days of prayer are presented as evidence.
The author then points to Christianity in the colonial constitutions, which is indisputable. But he tries to bridge from there to show an alleged link between Christianity and the Constitution of 1787. This is highly disputable.
Gary DeMar then presents the two shopworn internal arguments. One is the phrase “year of our Lord” in the subscription clause at the end of the document. Another is the exception of Sunday from the 10 days in which the President must sign or veto a bill. In the lexicon of Informal Logic these are known as trivial arguments.
For example, Christians would not be accused of worshipping the “god of thunder” just because they commonly refer to “Thursday” (ThorsDay) in everyday use of language. Neither should we assume the founding fathers are writing a Christian document merely because they refer to the Christian phrase, “year of our Lord 1787″ in everyday use of language.
The Biblical Standard
How can we determine if Gary DeMar has proved that the Constitution is a Christian document and that America is therefore a Christian nation? We need some standard for evaluation. Only the Bible can provide such a standard. Without that standard we are likely to be distracted by various entertaining, but irrelevant arguments. What does the Bible say about deciding whether a particular nation is a Christian nation, or not?
In all His dealings with Israel God insists that the nation maintain its covenant relation with Him by means of an oath to obey His law. Continually Israel returns to an act of formal, oath-bound commitment to God, often written, to renew the broken covenant.
Without the oath-bound covenant to a legal system based on the Bible there is no Christian nation. This is the defining characteristic of a “Christian nation.” There may be many other attractive features, but without the oath there is nothing that may be called a Christian nation.
Nehemiah 9:38 provides us a clear example, when it says, “…We are making an agreement in writing; and on the sealed document are the names of our leaders, our Levites and our priests.” Judging by this standard, we are forced to conclude that Gary DeMar and “America’s Heritage” have failed to prove the case. It has demonstrated no essential link between Christianity and the Constitution.
Do Christian colleges constitute a national oath to God? No. Does the phrase “year of our Lord” constitute a national oath to God? No. Does excluding Sunday from the 10-day window to sign or veto a bill constitute a national oath to God? No. Does any of the evidence presented in America’s Heritage constitute a national oath to God? No.
We can only conclude that Gary DeMar has not succeeded in showing that the Constitution of the United States has any Christian Foundation. The author has fallen short of establishing any vital link between Christianity and the Constitution.
Sadly, Gary DeMar takes a nonchalant attitude toward the covenant oath to God. At the end of Chapter 3 a rhetorical question is presented: “If the constitutional framers could get a glimpse of America today, would they have rethought their decision only to make passing reference to the lordship of Jesus Christ?”
The answer: “We will never know. But when all the testimony is in, it is an undeniable truth that Christianity served as the foundation for the political edifice we know as America.” Here Gary DeMar admits that the Constitution left out the one essential ingredient for a Christian government — the lordship of Jesus Christ. However, In the next breath he claims that America is a Christian nation anyway. The conclusion does not follow from the premise.
For this reason we are forced to conclude that “America’s Heritage” falls short of establishing any connection between Christianity and the Constitution and denies the cornerstone of Christian civil government.
Get More Information
To find out why Patrick Henry detested the U.S. Constitution visit http://www.america-betrayed-1787.com Dennis Woods is webmaster and also a political pollster and fundraiser in Oregon. Copyright: you may freely republish this article, provided the text, author credit, the active links and this copyright notice remain intact.”
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Glimpses of Esoteric Christianity Part 4
May 29th
Glimpses of Esoteric Christianity Part 4
Reincarnation
Everything in this universe is in motion. Movement produces change, or transformation. This is an eternal constant, a Law of the Cosmos, and it is immutable. The process of transformation occurs in stages, phases, and cycles. Every unit of life unfolds its consciousness in accord with the Law of Activity and Rest. The cycle of activity begins with birth, youth, maturity; it declines with old age and ends with so-called death, which is the period of Rest. The cycle continues repeatedly until the goal for that life-unit is achieved. Reincarnation is an expression of the Law of Activity and Rest as applied to human evolution. It is what Jewish mystics call “Gilgul,” and was a doctrine taught by the Greek Philosophers, Plato, Pythagoras and Plotinus. Most of the holy scriptures of the world contain references to the law, though some are veiled.
Once man found himself entombed within Matter, it became expedient for him to liberate himself. According to our observation, mankind as a whole, however, is not pursuing this goal, for he is unconscious of the purpose of his existence. The promptings of the Inner Self are misinterpreted for the selfish ambitions of the personal ego. Possessing a physical body, in a sense, is actually a great privilege, for it offers a rapid method for spiritual unfoldment. But to prolong our sojourn in the world of matter is foolhardy. This plane of consciousness is simply a phase, a stepping stone leading towards our spiritual destiny. Greater work, greater tasks awaits us elsewhere in the infinite reaches of the cosmos. We should realize that the physical world is not our true home. We are spiritual beings with a spiritual heritage. Ignorance and egoistic desire are the twin negative causes of our bondage to the wheel of birth and rebirth. Mastery of these causes offer spiritual freedom as the personal will and consciousness becomes united with the Divine Will and Mind of our True SELF.
We are bound to this wheel of reincarnation by causes. There are two sides to everything. We have already mentioned the negative causes. The positive causes are our aspiration for perfection and the balancing of karma. The former of this positive cause is the willful intent of the Soul, as human perfection may be accelerated while interacting and overcoming masterfully the resistance of matter. Karma binds us to the wheel until its misqualified energy has been spent, balanced, compensated, or the Law of Grace precipitated to over-ride the karmic condition as a result of spiritually understanding the required lesson that the Law expected one to learn.
Reincarnation is a common term for the concept of a human soul being born cyclically into the physical world. There are other terms, though, each referring to reincarnation, each with a slight variation as to meaning and implication. These terms are: rebirth, reimbodiment, transmigration, and metemapsychosis. The term transmigration often brings to mind the element of retrogression, of man re-embodying as an animal. This is a spiritual impossibility, for once individualized, the human spirit can never revert to an undividualized animal soul. The animal vehicle in itself would not be able to sustain the great radiations and magnetism of the human individualized Spirit. This concept of retrogression, of transmigration of the human soul into an animal form is a corruption of a doctrine that teaches the similitude of human characteristics to animal nature, which are retained embodiment after embodiment until the energies underlying the bestial nature are transmuted. The astral form is also highly impressionable and mouldable by thoughts and feelings. They tend to reflect the nature of the soul. Should the human soul be beastly in nature, the astral body would reflect the animal form. From a different perspective, the lower components of the soul, the astral and etheric bodies, when discarded by the human spirit, may gravitate to surroundings and objects of a similar nature.Thus we may have the possibility of these ethereal cadavers attaching themselves to animals–this probably started the concept that humans beings incarnate as animals.
If reincarnation is a Cosmic law, a doctrine of Truth, why is it not taught in the churches by the priesthood? This is a common query among the members of the exoteric churches. Unbeknown to them, this doctrine was a basic tenet of the early Church, and references to this law filled the scriptures and the gospels abundantly. St. Augustine, St. Clement, and Origen expressed a belief and an understanding in the doctrine of reincarnation. So did Bishop of Synesius (370–430 AD) of Ptolemais. St. Gregory of Nyssa (257–333 AD.) believed strongly in the law; he wrote:
“It is absolutely necessary that the soul be healed and purified, and if this does not take place during its life on earth it must be accomplished in future lives.”
Origen expounded the law in his literary works. He wrote extensively on the Law of Reembodiment. In later centuries, however, the mystical teachings of Origen were anathemized in the Council convened in Constantinople in 553 AD, and many references concerning reincarnation in the gospels were expunged. This Council, in which the Emperor Justinian presided, and which the reigning Pope refused to attend, was but a travesty of the Council of Sages that assemble periodically under the auspices of the Great White Brotherhood. The attending bishops of this Council assented to the dogmas drawned-up by Justinian and his co-conspirators–most of them acquiesced out of fear of the Emperor.The Doctrine of Reincarnation was rejected because it clashed with the dogmas that the Emperor and his cohorts among the bishopric circle wished to promote–that of eternal damnation, the vicarious atonement, the resurrection, and the uniqueness of Jesus as a “sole” son of God. Reincarnation was denounced at this Council by the conspirators so that greater political power might be had to manipulate the minds of men.
No cross-bearers of the Master Jesus were the assenting bishops. Their fear was greater than their love for him. This lack of courage and action on their part commenced and perpetrated an untruth which is misleading the flock of Christ to this very day. This untruth produces an attitude of spiritual slothfulness and fear in which dependency upon another for salvation is hoped and relied upon and not on one’s own mystical resources. Reincarnation was one of the issues that the Gnostics and the exoteric Church quarreled upon. The original, holy scriptures and gospels before being translated and edited by persons influenced by the newly invented creeds and dogmas, contained positive references to the Law of Reincarnation as taught by the Nazarene Master. The translated, corrupted works, however, still contain certain material relating to reincarnation. Some biblical students, though, are unable or unwilling to perceive the implied law in these passages, due to bigotry, prejudice, and the limitation that they impose upon their consciousness. This causes a lack of spiritual discernment and comprehension necessary to intuitively read between the lines and extract the essential meaning. We will quote these interesting passages a little later. It is important here to realize that not all of the teachings of Jesus were recorded in the canonical gospels. The bulk of his secret teachings were passed on to posterity by word of mouth, and some of these oral teachings found their way into modern mystical societies and fraternities. We should also not overlook the existence of hundreds of other scriptures, not considered “canonical,” which were arbitrarily labeled “apocryphal” or even “works of the devil,” that were not included in the Bible because it conflicted with the dogmas that the priesthood wished to promote. Some of these literary works contain sparkling gems of the Gupta Vidya, or the Ancient Wisdom.
How is the truth of reincarnation determined? By personal experience. This requires a mystical development with a certain degree of advancement along the path of evolution, along the Path of Initiation. Some individuals professing a belief in the reality of reincarnation are over-anxious to know their past identity. This is unreasonable, for their present identity remains yet to be discovered, realized, and known Why waste a considerable amount of time and force on something that will occur naturally in the course of time, when more important matters such as Self-Realization awaits one’s attention? It is a dangerous matter to probe into the psyche prematurely with the intention of recalling past lives with tools such as hypnotic regression, drugs, and others of a similar nature. Certainly nature has designed the human psychosomatic system and circuitry in such a manner that man would forget his past lives for an important reason–that of maintaining mental poise and balance. Man drinks the Waters of Lethe at each embodiment to forget painful experiences that occurred in the past history of the soul. To awaken these memories prematurely would simply upset the psychological equilibrium and sanity of the individual–aside from boosting the egoistic expressions of vanity, pride and a false sense of superiority. Nature does not, and will not withhold the knowledge and information that man should possess when he reaches a certain stage of development and maturity. Man will, without force, without tampering unnaturally with his psyche, recall past lives without becoming a psychiatric case. Those giving psychic readings and hypnotic-regression sessions to individuals should realize the possible grave consequences of their actions, as these would flood the psyche of their subjects with buried data that their consciousness may not yet be ready and equipped to handle.
It is true, however, that without personal experiences, man will always have doubts concerning the Law of Reincarnation, especially when one has not come to terms with life after so-called death. Reincarnation from that standpoint would seem to be a mere fancy. Fortunately, there are ways of strengthening one’s belief and faith in the law–as lame as beliefs may be. The truth is not only out there–it is to be found within as well. The truth seeker will investigate in a sane manner with less perilous methods than hypnosis to determine the accuracies of spiritual laws as revealed unto man by higher intelligences. The student’s main research and method of inquiry would probably be along the lines of reason, objectivity, a study of scriptural revelation; the study under those having spiritual experiences and understanding–those with spiritual authority; and the study of the phenomenon of spontaneous recollections.
Along the lines of reason, we may begin our search by inquiring into the manifold inequalities, complexities and differences among the sons of man: why are some born rich, and others poor? why are some born sound in mind and body while others are handicapped with bodily disadvantages or mental retardation? how can we explain the phenomenon of child prodigies? how do we resolve the problem of the mental capacities that differ from person to person–also the multifarious moral, cultural standards and spiritual attainment that each individual expresses? Education, environment and genes are minor factors that do not explain fully life’s situation as we see it. Why does God seem to have favorites? Jacob over Esau, for instance.
The law of reincarnation fills a gap, the missing link that unites the fragmentary parts of our understanding concerning the inequalities between individuals. The different types of man and their point of evolution is the manifestation of the laws of karma and reincarnation. One apparently comes into this world to live a short span of existence, and then to pass out of it without fulfilling one’s goals. What is the purpose of this? If one’s goals are unattainable in one life time then our existence here would be meaningless and futile. By carrying on our reasoning a little further we would perceive the mercy and grace of God in action within our lives; and that reincarnation is the manifestation of that mercy and grace.
As mentioned before, the gospels and Jewish scriptures are replete with references concerning the law of reincarnation. Below are just a few examples, a few verses often quoted by students and researches on the law:
“I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; and he shall go no more out.” (Rev 3:12)
This verse implies and signifies that the person who liberates himself from the bondage of matter participates in active work in the spiritual realms, directing the forces and powers of Nature in accord with the Grand Design, with God’s Plan and Will. The attainment of liberation or salvation, guarantees personal freedom from the wheel of birth and rebirth, from samsara. Such a liberated being is no longer compelled to reincarnate, he goes “no more out,” unless it is to assist lesser evolved beings.
“Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” (Malachi 4:5)
The advent of Elijah occurred through reincarnation in his embodiment as John the Baptist. Jesus had this to say about the true identity of John:
“. . . Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist . . . all the prophets and the law prophesied unto John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who was to come . . . ” (Matt 11:7-15)
Some biblical students are of the opinion that the reincarnation of Elijah was an exception and not a law of Nature; however, the general concept, or law was not repudiated by the Nazarene Master. In some passages of the gospels he discusses it freely with his disciples:
“‘whom do man say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ’some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But whom do you say I am?’ Simon Peter replied: ‘You are the Christ, the son of the Living God.’ And Jesus answered to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter. And on this rock I will build my church; and the powers of death shall not prevail against it . . . ‘” (Matt 16:13–20)
Though Jesus taught reincarnation, he did not put much emphasis on it; we believe he intended to stress the possibility of man attaining Christhood in a single life time, and thus attain salvation, freed from the necessity of reimbodiment. In the above verse he reveals to Simon his past identity as Peter. There is a double meaning involved in the expression “on this rock.” “Peter” means “rock,” but the rock that “death shall not prevail” is the law of reincarnation that Jesus was referring to, and this was supposed to become one of the tenets, the foundation in his Church.
Another verse, this time from Exodus, shows the relationship between reincarnation and karma:
” . . . Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:7)
If interpreted literally, this verse presents Jehovah as lacking real mercy; for why should an innocent offspring pay for the sins of its progenitor? The karmic retribution meted out to the children, and the children’s children of the above verse refers to the karmic compensation that the reincarnating “Ego” has to pay in subsequent embodiments.
Karma
Karma is the Law of Cause and Effect; it is sometimes described as the “law of consequence,” the “law of equilibrium.” In the scriptures it is the law “As ye sow, so shall ye reap,” inculcated by Jesus and Paul to the masses. Jesus declares:
“With what measure you mete it shall be measured to you again.” (Matt 7:2)
Jesus is actually implying that we should be responsible for the burden of our sins.
We are also told in Galatians that,
” . . . every man shall bear his own burden.” (Gal 6:5)
Every man has to face the consequences of his own deeds, in thought, words, and action. The dogma that one simply has to have faith or believe in Jesus to save oneself from sin is contradicted by the Master’s own words. The true teachings of Jesus appeals to us to mature in a spiritual manner and not to be dependent upon another.
In the Book of Jubilees, a work considered apocryphal, it is mentioned how the higher law deals with man:
“With the instrument with which a man killeth his neighbour with the same shall he be killed; after the manner that he wounded him, in like manner shall they deal with him.”
Karma is the expression of divine justice and mercy. It is one of the constants of the omniverse that applies and is readily seen working in the world of physics–aside from being a contributing factor of a person’s evolution. The law is impersonal, impartial, and does not punish as some people believe–instead it teaches, educates. It makes an individual realize the errors of his deeds and the beneficence of his positive works. It shows an individual the relationship between actions and their consequences. Negative actions being the result of negative effects, positive actions in positive effects. Karma is the tool of God’s balancing-out the disturbances in the harmony of the Tao. The Law declares in seemingly harsh terms:
“Vengeance is mine, I will repay . . .” (Romans 12:19)
Each individual in his daily thoughts, speech, and actions creates karma. No being lives without making karma, for no being lives without putting forces into motion in his daily life. To simply breathe is in one sense karmic–for every breath has its influence, its consequential result in the physical body. Karma is a person’s self-created fate. A Christian of esotericism has a firm conviction in the existence of the law, for he perceives its workings manifesting daily in his life. To such an individual the dogma “remission of sins” as taught by orthodox Christianity is incompatible with the law of Karma and is seen as a principle invented by the Church to control the minds of the masses. The only prevention of reaping negative results is to avoid putting negative causes into motion. “Ahimsa,” or harmlessness, should be a constant expression of the devout–”to turn the other cheek.”
Karma binds one to the wheel of birth and rebirth–even the positive causes are no exception, unless one is unattached to one’s actions; “vairagya” or detachment is a requisite virtue often advised by Gurus to their chelas to acquire. Being detached from one’s actions is the whole theory and practice of Karma Yoga, as taught by the avatara Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. Karma may best be understood through Eastern teachings.
There are basically three types of Karma. Hindu philosophy classify them as follows:
Sattvika Karman, where the results of one’s actions are not desired, where one is unattached to them.
Rajasa Karman, where acts are performed sensuously for the desire of their fruits and rewards.
Tamasa Karman, where forces are put into motion out of ignorance, confusion, and delusion, without any real care and concern for the consequences of one’s deeds.
Copyright © 2006 Luxamore
Christianity
May 27th
Christianity
In Philip Wogaman’s “Christian Ethics: A historical Introduction”, theinfluence of ancient philosophical traditions is evident. To what extenthave these traditions influenced early Christian thought? Is Christianethical thought an extension of earlier philosohpical traditions, or is itbased upon its own principles and ideologies? With these questions in mind,what and who is the basic foundational structure of this discipline?
History witnesses that the ideas similar to Christian moral had appeared long ago before the birth of Christ, as Christian moral has lots of concepts that originate in common natural laws, fundamentals of peaceful coexistence and simple human moral.
Historians argue nowadays about the origins of Christianity and are looking for analogical moral teaching and philosophical ideas that existed in last centuries of BC both in Palestine and in Ancient Greece. Most of moral concepts of Christianity came into new religion from Judaism and from different religious and moral tendencies of Ancient word, both eastern and western. Fatalism, humility, ascetic way of life and self perfection teachings already existed long before Christianity and had made an incredible influence on Christian ethics supplementing existing religion by universality and availability of its philosophy. As a result, Christianity became nearly the first religion that got a global spread, as it was no longer a class religion, it was the religion, accepted by all classes, as everyone could find salvation in all-mighty god who considered every person to be his earthly child who were all equal for him, despite heritage, merit and race. Christian philosophy was accumulating the achievements of ancient Jewish, Greek and Roman philosophical and ethic thought and was supplemented by them even during the second-third century after its foundation. Christianity accepted metaphysics of Aristotle, stoic beliefs, Judaist concept of monotheism and many other aspects.
Especially when studying the origins of Christian ethics scientists refer to the moral teaching of Stoics and their brightest representatives: Seneca and Epicurus. Stoics taught that people have to live according to the laws of nature and laws of universal harmony. They considered nature’s laws and nature of things to be the ideal of one’s life, and their teaching was telling about the rules of harmonic coexistence in this world. Stoics believed that everything is decided by natural laws, that individual’s destiny is planned before. So anyone who would try to act contrary to destiny will fail anyway as it’s impossible to act contrary to nature. These ideas are quite similar to some of Christian beliefs, for example in the dogma about almighty God and predestination. Besides, teaching of stoics was promoting moderate and simple way of life, ideas of humanism and good attitude, search for the truth and a skill to live a happy life. Stoics saw happiness in freedom from passions, in tranquility of spirit and indifference. Some of similar ideas are common to Christian moral as well.
The teaching of Seneca, who belonged to Stoics, was adopted by Christian church, and his influence on the development of Christian ethics and philosophy was considerable in later years as well. Christianity adopted a set of stoic ethics concepts, and a lot of Christian authors of the Western Roman Empire cited Seneca and referred to his essays in their works. In 4 century AD there was even composed a correspondence between St. Paul and Seneca, Seneca’s literary works were popular among Humanists of Renaissance and Enlightenment. Still philosophical beliefs of Seneca were not consistent. His discourses were concentrated on the place of philosophy in human’s life and on the problems of practical moral. Philosophy according to Seneca was a balsam for human’s soul. The main task of Seneca’s discourses was to find the best answer on the question how to live and how to die, to give spiritual independence from routine problems and fears. Seneca considered all people to be equal: “they are slaves,-no they are people! They are slaves, no they are friends! They are slaves! No, they are modest friends!”, but still Seneca’s discourses were directed to give a hope to roman aristocracy, but not to common people, as he was not really close to commons. Seneca’s view about material goods were also non single valued, he preached intricate way of life, modest behavior and humility, but he didn’t stand against wealth, moreover in his poems he glorified the wealth of Rome. Justifying sinful and immoral human nature which is inclined to temptation and hypocrisy (as moral ideas are violated by majority), he stated that human nature is sinful and weak, but still people have to work on themselves.
The same concepts about human nature are found in basics of Christian ethics as well. The believes of Seneca are also similar to Christian beliefs about life after death, as Seneca taught that earthly life has to be a preparation for death: “one life bad is not able to die good”. For the sake of that it’s important to stand hardships, pain, fears and dangers met in route life; at the same time one has to fight his passions and temptations. And the heroic image of gladiator is an ideal for Seneca.
Religious origins of Christianity which are found in Judaism were modified nearly a century before Christ by a Greek philosopher, Philon of Alexandria. Philon tried to combine the Old Testament with the teaching of Stoics, Pythagoreans and followers of Plato. At the same time he explained the essence of god which was transcendental, if compared to Judaist concept of god only for chosen people. According to Philon two forcers served God- Word (Logos) and Holly spirit (hagion pneuma), this was something similar to the Christian dogma about holly trinity. According to Philon, a man was an image of word or Logos, as the world was created by god by means of word.
Echoes of Philon’s religious and moral teaching are found in moral and ethical concepts of late Christianity: the meaning of charity, universality of sin, etc. Everything that was mentioned above allows considering Philon’s teaching as Christianity without Christ. By the opinion of many scientists, it would be hard to determine the origins and fundamentals of late Christian moral concepts and religious particularities if the was nothing known about activity of Philon. Such canonic Christian works as Holly gospels of disciples become clearer from ethical and philosophical point of view only when comparing them to the teaching of Philon.
Christianity was also influenced by Stoic ideas of Roman emperor Mark Aurelius, who by the way cruelly persecuted Christians. That’s why to consider that Christianity introduced something new into ethics and morality would be incorrect, as it executed the role of a synthesis of different teachings and ideas that existed long before Christ in order to make Christianity really universal.
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“people of the Book” & the Muslims the Natural Alliance Between Christianity, Judaism and Islam
May 27th
“people of the Book” & the Muslims the Natural Alliance Between Christianity, Judaism and Islam
Islam is a religion of peace, love and tolerance. Today, however, some circles have been presenting a false image of Islam, as if there were conflict between Islam and the adherents of the two other monotheistic religions. Yet Islam’s view of Jews and Christians, who are named “the People of the Book” in the Koran, is very friendly and tolerant.
This attitude towards the People of the Book developed during the years of the birth of Islam. At that time, Muslims were a minority, struggling to protect their faith and suffering oppression and torture from the pagans of the city of Mecca. Due to this persecution, some Muslims decided to flee Mecca and shelter in a safe country with a just ruler. The Prophet Muhammad told them to take refuge with King Negus, the Christian king of Ethiopia. The Muslims who followed this advice found a very fair administration that embraced them with love and respect when they went to Ethiopia. King Negus refused the demands of the pagan messengers who asked him to surrender the Muslims to them, and announced that Muslims could live freely in his country.
Such attitudes of Christian people that are based on the concepts of compassion, mercy, modesty and justice, constitute a fact that God has pointed out in the Koran. A verse of the Koran states:
… You will find the people most affectionate to those who believe are those who say, ‘We are Christians.’ That is because some of them are priests and monks and because they are not arrogant. (Surat al-Ma’ida, 82)
The Common Beliefs and Values of the People of the Book with Muslims
Christian and Muslim belief have many aspects in common. Judaism too shares many beliefs with Islam. All true adherents of these three great religions:
believe that God has created the entire universe out of nothing and that He dominates all that exists with His omnipotence.
believe that God has created man and living things in a miraculous way and that man possesses a soul granted him by God.
believe that besides Jesus, Moses or Muhammad, God sent many prophets such as Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Joseph throughout history, and they love all these prophets.
believe in resurrection, Heaven and Hell and angels, and that God has created our lives with a certain destiny.
The beliefs of the People of the Book are in harmony with Muslims, not only in terms of faith-related issues, but also of moral values. Today, in a world where such immoralities as adultery, homosexuality, drug addiction and a model of egoism and self-seeking cruelty have grown widespread, the People of the Book and Muslims share the same virtues: Honor, chastity, humility, self-sacrifice, honesty, compassion, mercy and unconditional love…
According To The Koran, Muslims, Jews And Christians Should Live In Friendship
It is evident there are ample grounds for an alliance between the “People of the Book” and Muslims. This is also very evident in the Koran. In the relevant verses of the Koran, there is a significant difference between the People of the Book and the idolaters. This is especially emphasized in the area of social life. For example, it is said concerning the idolaters: “(they) are unclean, so after this year they should not come near the Masjid al-Haram (Kaaba).” (Surat at-Tawba: 28) Idolaters are people who obey no divine law, have no moral precepts and who are capable of committing every kind of degrading and perverse action without hesitation.
But while they basically rely on God’s revelation, the People of the Book have moral precepts and know what is lawful and what is not. For this reason, if one of the People of the Book cooks some food, it is lawful for Muslims to eat it. In the same way, permission has been given for a Muslim man to marry a woman from among the People of the Book. On this subject God commands:
Today all good things have been made lawful for you. And the food of those given the Book is also lawful for you and your food is lawful for them. So are chaste women from among the believers and chaste women of those given the Book before you, once you have given them their dowries in marriage, not in fornication or taking them as lovers. But as for anyone who disbelieve, his actions will come to nothing and in the hereafter he will be among the losers. (Surat al-Mai’da: 5)
These commands show that bonds of kinship may be established as a result of the marriage of a Muslim with a woman from the People of the Book, and that those on each side of the union can accept an invitation to a meal. These are the fundamentals that will ensure the establishment of equitable human relationships and a happy communal life. Since the Koran enjoins this equitable and tolerant attitude, it is unthinkable that a Muslim could take an opposing view.
Monasteries, Churches And Synagogues Should Be Respected
Another important fact we learn from the Koran is that Muslims must respect Jewish and Christian places of worship. In the Koran, the places of worship of the People of the Book, i.e. monasteries, churches and synagogues, are mentioned as places of worship protected by God.
…if God had not driven some people back by means of others, monasteries, churches, synagogues and mosques, where God’s name is mentioned much, would have been pulled down and destroyed. God will certainly help those who help Him – God is All-Strong, Almighty. (Surat al-Hajj: 40 )
This verse shows all Muslims the importance of respecting and protecting the sanctuaries of Christians and Jews.
Indeed, in the Koran God commands Muslims not to harbor any enmity towards any people. In many verses, friendship is recommended, even with idolaters. God even refers to the idolaters at war with Muslims in this way: “If any of the idolaters ask you for protection, give them protection until they have heard the words of God. Then convey them to a place where they are safe.” (Surat at-Tawba: 6)
Jews and Christians, however, are much closer to Muslims than idolaters. Each of these religions has its book, that is, they are subject to a revelation sent down by God. They know what is right and what is wrong, what is lawful and what is unlawful. They know they will give an account to God, and they love and revere His prophets. This shows that Muslims and the people of the book can live easily together and cooperate.
The Common Enemies of the Faith
Another important fact that draws Christianity, Judaism and Islam together is the atheist philosophies that are so influential in our time.
Among the best-known and most harmful philosophies of our age can be cited materialism, communism, fascism, anarchism, racism and secular humanism. Many people who believed in the fake diagnoses, deceptive descriptions and explanations of these ideas on the universe, society and man, have lost their faith or doubted it. What is more, these ideologies have dragged people, societies and nations into great crises, conflicts and wars. Their share of the blame for the pain and troubles that humanity suffers today is immense.
While they deny God and creation, all the above-mentioned ideologies are based on a common framework, a so-called scientific basis; Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Darwinism constitutes the basis of atheist philosophies. This theory claims that living beings have evolved as a result of coincidences and by means of a struggle for life. Therefore, Darwinism sends this deceptive message to people:
“You are not responsible to anyone, you owe your life to coincidences, you need to struggle, and if necessary to oppress others to succeed. This world is one of conflict and self-interest”.
This evil morality advises people to be egoistical, self-seeking, cruel and oppressive. It destroys such virtues as mercy, compassion, self-sacrifice and humility, the moral values of the three great monotheistic religions.
This being the case, it is necessary for the people of the Book and Muslims to cooperate, since they believe in God and accept the morality that He teaches. The followers of these three religions should expose to the world the fallacy of Darwinism, which has no scientific basis, but which is trying to be preserved for the sake of materialist philosophy. They should cooperatively carry out an intellectual struggle against all other deceptive ideas that serve atheism. Once this is realized, the world will, in a very short time, embrace peace, tranquility and justice.
Conclusion: “Let us Rally to a Common Formula”
At a time when anti-religious, atheist and materialist ideologies surround the world, similarities among theistic religions should be emphasized, and cooperation should be established for common aims.
Concerning the People of the Book, God gives Muslims a command in the Koran; to rally to a common formula:
O People of the Book! Let us rally to a common formula to be binding on both us and you: That we worship none but God; that we associate no partners with Him; that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords and patrons other than God. (Surat Al ‘Imran, 64)
This is indeed our call to Christians and Jews: As people who believe in God and follow His revelations, let us rally to a common formula – “faith”. Let’s love God, Who is our Creator and Lord, and follow His commands. And let us pray God to lead us to an even straighter path.
When Muslims, Christians and Jews rally to a common formula this way;
When they understand that they are friends not enemies,
When they see that the real enemy is atheism and paganism,
then the world will become a very different place.
The fighting that has raged for ages, enmities, fears – and terrorist attacks – will come to an end, and a new civilization based on love, respect and peace will be established upon this “common formula”.
Under the pen name of Harun Yahya, Adnan Oktar has written some 250 works. His books contain a total of 46,000 pages and 31,500 illustrations. Of these books, 7,000 pages and 6,000 illustrations deal with the collapse of the Theory of Evolution. You can read, free of charge, all the books Adnan Oktar has written under the pen name Harun Yahya on these websites www.harunyahya.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR, HARUN YAHYA
Born in Ankara in 1956, Adnan Oktar writes his books under the pen name of Harun Yahya. Ever since his university years, he has dedicated his life to telling of the existence and oneness of Almighty Allah, and to disseminating the moral values of the Qur’an. He has never wavered in the face of difficulties and despite oppression, still continues this intellectual struggle today exhibiting great patience and determination. For mor information pls visit: http://www.harunyahya.com/theauthor.php
Defending Christianity
May 27th
Defending Christianity
INTRODUCTION:
Christianity just like Islam Judaism and Buddhism are all religions. All these religions have their own sets of beliefs that they use to guide them in their day to day lives. They might either belief in a supreme being above human understanding or even in earthly idols that they revere and worship as their overall caretaker not only for preserving their lives but also to guide them in their daily work as well as bless them with earthly riches as well as eternal life.
Christianity is the worlds’ largest monotheistic religion. It is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ of Nazareth the believed son of god as presented in the new testament of the bible (Christianity’s holy book). It had an estimated 2.1 adherents in 2001. It started as an offshoot of Judaism and it is the predominant religion in Europe the Americas, southern Africa, Oceania, and the Philippine islands.
On the other hand Islam is also a monotheistic religion that originated from the teachings of Muhammad. Islam’s adherents are called Muslims. Islam is the second largest religion from Christianity. Muslims believe that Judaism and Christianity distorted the teachings of the prophets either through interpretation, text or both.
Buddhism on the other hand is a dharmic, non-theistic religion and it is also a philosophy. Buddhism is also known as Buddha Dharma or Dhamma, which means the “teachings of the Awakened One”.
HISTORY AND ORIGIN:
In the mid first century A.D Christianity began to spread beyond its Jewish origins especially under the leadership of the apostles peter and Paul. Within this period Christianity spread east to Asia and throughout the Roman Empire. It later spread to other nations to adopt Christianity among them Ethiopia which was one of the worlds first Christian states.
With time Christianity spread into many areas of the world especially through the work of missionaries. As it expanded Christian teachings changed slightly especially on the field of interpretation. There is a diversity of doctrines and practices among groups calling themselves Christian. These groups are sometimes classified under denominations, though for theological reasons many groups reject this classification system. Christianity may be broadly represented as being divided into three main groupings:
Roman Catholicism: The Roman Catholic Church, the largest single body, includes the Latin Rite and totals more than 1 billion baptized members.
Eastern Christianity: Eastern Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Churches, the 100,000 member Assyrian Church of the East, and others with a combined membership of more than 300 million baptized members
Anglicanism: The Anglican Communion is a group of Anglican and Episcopal Churches that are descended from the Church of England. Most Anglicans don’t consider themselves Protestant or Catholic but believe that the Church of England always existed and wasn’t formed during the Reformation but rather broke away from the Church of Rome.
Protestantism: Groups such as Lutherans, Reformed/Presbyterians, Congregational/United Church of Christ, Evangelical, Charismatic, Baptists, Methodists, Nazarenes, Anabaptists, Seventh-day Adventists and Pentecostals. The oldest of these separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century Protestant Reformation, followed in many cases by further divisions. Estimates of the total number of Protestants are very uncertain, partly because of the difficulty in determining which denominations should be placed in this category, but it seems to be unquestionable that Protestantism is the second major branch of Christianity (after Roman Catholicism) in number of followers.
SIMILARITY AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER RELIGIONS:
Christian’s belief in Jesus Christ and that through his death and resurrection mankind is reconciled to god and thus mankind receives salvation by grace and through this he receives eternal life.
Every religion has its rules and regulations or accepted practices. In the case of Christians this is guided by the Ten Commandments listed below.
I am the Lord your God
Thou shall have no other gods before me
Thou shall not make for yourself an idol
Thou shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God
Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
Honor Thy Mother and Father
Thou shall not murder
Thou shall not commit adultery
Thou shall not steal
Thou shall not bear false witness
Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s house
Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife.
Islam on the other hand is guided by the five pillars of Islam which are
1. Sawm or fasting during the month of Ramadan. Muslims must not eat or drink (among other things) from dawn to dusk during this month, and must be mindful of other sins.
2. The Hajj, which is the pilgrimage during the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah in the city of Mecca. Every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it must make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his or her lifetime.
3. Zakat or alms-giving. This is the practice of giving based on accumulated wealth, and is obligatory for all Muslims who can afford it.
4. Salah, or ritual prayer, which must be performed five times a day.
5. The fifth is the shahadah, which is the basic creed or tenet of Islam.
Beyond these five pillars Muslims are also guided by sharia or Islamic law.
Buddhism on its part is guided by the eight precepts of Buddhism listed below
1. To refrain from taking life. (I.e. non-violence towards sentient life
Forms)
2. To refrain from taking that which is not given (i.e. not committing theft)
3. To refrain from sensual misconduct (abstinence from immoral sexualBehavior)
4. To refrain from lying. (I.e. speaking truth always)
5. To refrain from intoxicants which lead to loss of mindfulness (refrain from Using drugs or alcohol)
6. To refrain from eating at the wrong time (only eat from sunrise to noon)
7. To refrain from dancing, using jewelry, going to shows, etc.
8. To refrain from using a high, luxurious bed.
DEFENDING CHRISTIANITY:
Defending Christianity is not about rejecting other religions but it is all about believing in it and holding its teachings to be of truth not to a person or a group of persons but to be universally true. By defending Christianity we don’t mean taking a shield and amour and go to the battle ground but instead it is staying strong in your faith in all times. Among the ways one can defend Christianity include the following means discussed below.
DEFEND THE DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST AS GOD AND MESSIAH:
Christians should let the people know about the truth of Jesus Christ as the true son of God. They should let the people know of the trinity (God the father the son and the Holy Spirit). Using the prophesies both in the Christian’ old testament of the holy bible or Judaism’s’ tanakh they should let it be known that Jesus is the messiah who had been prophesied would come and die for the sins of mankind so that all mankind could inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Christians should let the people of the world know that Jesus as God or the true son of God defied earthly beliefs and as had been prophesied he defeated death and rose to life again. According to the Bible, God raised him from the dead, (acts of apostles: chapter2, verse24) and after he was resurrected he ascended to heaven, to the right hand side of God, (romans: chapter8, verse34) and will return again to fulfill the rest of the prophesies of both the old and new testament such as the Resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment and establishment of the Kingdom of God (acts of apostles; 1:9-11)
REFUTING EVOLUTION AND PROVING CREATION
Some scientists have in deed refuted the theory of evolution since the evidence gathered from excavated fossils of the early man e.g. those found at ol duvai George in Tanzania have not shown any correlation between the early man and the official age of the universe. This disparity thus leaves us to conclude that man in deed did not evolve. Based on Christian teachings we can thus conclude that since biblically man was created on the sixth day of Gods creation. Since no one knows the exact length of a day by Gods standards we may conclude that the sixth day could have been after six hundred or even six thousand years after the beginning of creation and that is why the approximated age of the universe is not correlated with the approximate age of the early man.
BELIEF IN THE SCRIPTURES:
Christianity regards the Bible, a collection of canonical books in two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament, as authoritative: written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and therefore inerrant . Thus to improve on faith Christians should belief in what is written in the bible and hold it as the whole truth.
DEFENDING THE GOSPEL:
Another avenue through which Christians can defend their faith is by defending their gospel. By this Christians should practice the teachings of the gospel. Christians believe that God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day, that Jesus appeared to his apostles and other disciples, commissioned his disciples to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son (Jesus) and of the Holy Spirit.(Mathew 28:19).
Before spreading the gospel Christians should belief in the gospel first. Thus Christians should first belief that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
They should also belief that through the life, the teachings, the miracles, the persecution and the ultimate death of Jesus, mankind is forgiven of all his sins and that through the grace of God he can get saved and inherit the kingdom of heaven only if he repent and accept Jesus as his personal savior.
OVERCOMING OBJECTIONS TO THE GOSPEL:
Christians should always be ready to stand firm and defend their religion from objections to the gospel. Early Christians among them most of the disciples including Jesus himself defended the religion so vehemently such that most of them of them died as martyrs defending their religion.
Note that Christians have frequently suffered from persecution. Starting with Jesus, the early Christian church was persecuted by state and religious establishments from its earliest beginnings. Notable early Christians such as Stephen, eleven of the Apostles as well as Paul died as martyrs according to tradition. Systematic Roman persecution of Christians culminated in the Great Persecution of Diocletian and ended with the Edict of Milan. Persecution of Christians persisted or even intensified in other places, such as in Sassanid Persia.
Later Christians living in Islamic countries were subjected to various legal restrictions, which included taxation and a ban on building or repairing churches. Christians at times also suffered violent persecution or confiscation of their property. Thus just as early Christians did modern day Christians should not be afraid but instead they should go out and preach the good of the gospel to the peoples of all nations and let people hear the gospel.
START A BIBLE CLUB AND A PRAYER GROUP:
In order to grow stronger in the Christian faith and be able to defend Christianity more strongly Christians should take an extra step of faith and start bible study groups and prayer groups so that collectively they can be able to strengthen one another in faith. In these prayer groups they will be able to learn more about Christianity and in the process they will acquire the skills needed to stand firm and defend their religion more strongly.
CRITICISMS OF CHRISTIANITY:
Although historians generally agree that Jesus existed, a few writers propose that Jesus is a myth, and have aimed at reconstructing the historical Jesus. Some such writers depict Jesus as a metaphor for spiritual awakening or a fictional figure based on Egyptian religion.
Some writers consider Paul to be the founding figure of Christianity, pointing to the extent of his writings and the scope of his missionary work.
Members of the Jesus Seminar, and other Biblical scholars, have argued that the historical Jesus never claimed to be divine. They also reject the historicity of the empty tomb and thus a bodily resurrection and several other events narrated in the gospels. They assert that Gospel accounts describing these things are probably literary fabrications.
Muslims believe that the Christian doctrine of the Trinity is incompatible with monotheism, and they reject the Christian teaching that Jesus is the Son of God, though they affirm the virgin birth and view him as a prophet preceding Muhammad.
Muslims also dispute the historical occurrence of the crucifixion of Jesus (believing that while a crucifixion occurred, it was not of Jesus). Muslims also believe that while Islam’s holy book, the Quran, is the word of God, today’s Bible has been corrupted because it has gone through a human editing process.
CONCLUSION:
Christianity is a religion. It is founded and built on beliefs and so just like many other religions in the world. In this case many of its teachings are not things that can be mathematically or scientifically analyzed. As thus Christians need to have faith and belief in things that they do and believe that it is what God has instructed them to do.
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The Differences Between New Era and Christianity
May 27th
The Differences Between New Era and Christianity
Do believe that there is really no right and wrong, that whether it is right or not is decided by the individual? Or alternatively do you believe that there is definite bad karma and you pay for it in each reincarnation? Or do you believe neither- what alternative is there, if any? Do you believe that God wants every one to be saved or only some people? Do you think a religion should teach doing good to others, charity, and love? Do you believe that God is everywhere? Your answers to these questions tell whether you support the New Era movement or not.
New Era supporters believe in reincarnation, because as one pop song put it, “it takes more than one lifetime to learn”. Yet the New Era movement does not try to stimulate moral values in people for them to earn their salvation. In the New Era belief, you yourself decide what it right, their values are relative, no matter what the Bible says.
In contrast, in Christianity, we accept that ten million lifetimes would not be enough to learn. The more that the world progresses in technology, the worse that the weapons become. The more medicines are invented, the more billions that have no access to them because of poverty. We sin and we make mistakes.
We have only one life to live, Christians do not believe in reincarnation. Christians admit that we are all imperfect and need salvation. Yet we can all become saved from eternal suffering and have eternal life happiness with God. It is as easy as believing in Jesus as our only savior and God. New Era doctrine implies that God is mean because people of every religion can not be saved. But Christianity says God has called all to be saved, even though no one is perfect, simply by believing in Jesus.
Christian beliefs are based upon the Bible and to Christians; the Bible is the only true Holy Book. The Bible tells us what is right and what is wrong. Ironically, it is New Era that does not persuade people to be good because according to the New Era, we are already good and there is no wrong.
In New Era doctrine, wrong is in the eye of the beholder, whereas in Christianity, God ask us to do good. “Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that does good is of God: but he that does evil has not seen God” (3 John 11). Many charitable organizations and Institutions of higher learning were founded by Christians, for example, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army; Harvard, Yale, and Interamerican Universities, to name just a few of the countless many around the world.
Jesus said “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you.” (Mathew 5:44) and he really lived that. Jesus did not fight back when the ancient Pagan Roman army came to arrest him and crucify him, (even though he could have done a miracle to set himself free), because he wanted to give himself in ransom for our sins. Jesus came to this world to fulfill a mission, God, the Father, asked him to do; and Jesus willingly did. His mission was to give himself to save us from our sins.
When they came to arrest him, one who was with Jesus took out a sword and cut the ear off of one of those who came to arrest him. But Jesus said, “Put back your sword, for all they who take up the sword shall perish by the sword”. Jesus said he could have called thousands of angels to his aid if he so chose to, but he did not defend himself (Mathew 26:51-54). No one can live up to Jesus. This was done as an example to all of us.
Jesus, of whose one of his titles was the Son of man, said, “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Marc 10:45). The Bible says, “even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace this grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God has set to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Romans 3:22-25). This means that we all need forgiveness and can receive it by believing in Jesus, who shed his blood for us on the cross.
We ourselves can not clean up guilt by saying that all we do is relatively good. If you are kidnapped by an enemy, and the enemy wants money for your release, someone must pay that ransom for you to live. The enemy is the devil who has tied us up with sin, but the savior is Jesus. A kidnapper wants a lot of money, even more than we can have. But Jesus, having never sinned, was the sacrifice that saved us because he was painfully crucified though he had no sin. His great worth paid for the salvation of all who are willing to believe in him and enjoy eternal happiness in heaven.
Jesus was the only one who said to love your enemies. Contrary to popular belief, polytheist religions do persecute Christians. Most New Era followers are polytheists, or believe in polytheism like a mix of the ancient Greek gods and various kinds of witchcraft, with Hinduism as its basis.
In the European countries and in the United States, polytheists do not usually persecute Christians because these are predominantly Christian countries and modern Christians teach that no one should persecuted for their religious beliefs. Polytheists have been positively influenced by Christians in the west. But polytheist nations in predominantly non-Christian countries are very different than the west. Polytheists in predominantly non-Christian countries persecute Christians. It is the Christian nations that are against religious persecution in the world.
Another difference between New Era and Christianity is the idea of Karma. New Era alternates between the idea that we can do no wrong and the idea that we have bad karma. Karma is the idea that you pay for what you do wrong. Karma as a belief is not “new” at all, it comes originally from India. In India, Hindus and Buddhists believe that karma is accumulated every reincarnation and you pay for the karma in the next reincarnation.
In India, karma is used as an excuse to justify the wrong acceptance of racism. They believe that people who were born with black skin are born that way because they were very evil in a past life. In India, the blacks are called the untouchables. They and anybody who is crippled or poor are denied equality and opportunities to improve their life because as K.P. Yohannan explains in his Christian book, Revolution in World Missions, according to karmic belief, Hindus believe that helping them would only worsen their condition, prolonging the time they have to suffer to pay for their bad karma.
Sadly, Hinduism keeps India poor, K.P. Yohannan adds, because the Hindus believe that rats are sacred. They will not exterminate rats even though rats eat one third of the crops and bring diseases. The cows and rats eat the crops but starving people are not allowed to eat of it.
In Christian belief, all races are made by God from one common ancestor, Adam and Eve. We are all made in God’s image and deserve to be treated equally and loved as God loves us (Genesis 2:27).
The Bible tells us to help the poor. “If there be any among you that are poor of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord has given you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother (Deuteronomy 15: 7) and “And thy shall not glean your vineyard, neither shall you gather every grape of thy vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger” (Leviticus 23:22). To glean means to pick up every last crop. Some of the crop must be left behind for the poor of the country and the poor foreigners to gather.
Jesus also taught that a man who could not see was not born without sight to pay for his sin nor for the sin of his parents (John 9:1-3). The persons with a handicap are equal to everyone and should not be looked down upon.
From Western eyes, it is desirable to have good karma. However, Reverend Moisés Roman explained that in Hinduism belief, you reincarnate into a cow, not as a punishment, but because you have been very good in a past life and have reached a very high level of development. In fact, in Asia, it is an ideal to stop reincarnating and become free of the supposed endless cycle of birth and re-birth, whereas to a New Age westerner, it is a welcome idea to keep reincarnating.
We must examine the societal implications of our beliefs. According to economists, India, which has a free market and is a democracy, should have an excellent economy. Yet it is one of the poorest parts of the world because there is little support for equality and charity.
Christians have set up charitable organizations in India, but it is not yet enough. For instance, in India, Christian missionaries are beaten up and rejected by their families (from various articles from Send! missionary magazine, http://www.gfa.org ).
Another difference between New Era and Christianity is the implications of the belief that God is everywhere. Many people in the New Age movement misunderstand the Christian belief that God is everywhere, and instead represent it to mean that God is everything. One highly educated, western person I know prays by looking in the mirror and talking to “the God inside him”. Pantheism and Christianity are very different. We are not God and animals are not God either. God is perfect, we are not.
Christians become filled with the Holy Spirit of God by believing in Jesus and asking Jesus only to come into their heart. According to born again Christians, if you have not asked Jesus to be your savior and God, then you have not invited Jesus into your temple, which is your body, so God is not inside you.
“The most high does not dwell in temples made with hands…” (Acts 8:48). When you believe in Jesus, you have the joy of Jesus dwelling in your heart, (your heart is created by God), not in statues or pictures made by human hands.
When born again Christians pray, they close their eyes and pray to God, the creator of the entire universe. They pray to God in Jesus’ name, not to themselves. Jesus, God’s son, said, “And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14).
During a time of crisis, we need to become strengthened by turning to a resource outside of our limitations. If we believe that we are God, if we believe that we make up our own values, and that we make up our own miracles; we will have mental inconsistency. We will be going around in circles, looking inside again and again for what can only be found outside of our imperfection.
I knew of one lady that would do a Tarot reading for herself over and over again on the same question, never accepting that she did not feel satisfied with the answer she got. Some Tarot readers that charge for their reading even record the session, and give the recording away, so the customer will not be asking the same questions over and over again.
We were meant for something better, we were meant to pray to God in Jesus’ name, the creator and sustainer of the Universe; the only source of power, perfection, and infinite wisdom; and to receive help from him.
Wilma Melendez has been a Christian for 18 years and attends El Sendero de la Cruz Church in Puerto Rico. Have you ever wished you could talk to God and be heard? Check out her home page How to Pray
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