The church a sales organization? "ooooohhhhh nooooooo!". Selling fear is just one product of the church.
What it pays to ignore, if you were born of another culture or age and different parents, you would have a different belief system. We are a product of our environment. But please, don't let reality get in the way.
Christian spin doctors version: Luke 2:10-1 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Reality version: 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear yee: for, behold, I bring bad tidings of great fear, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a judge, which is a tyrant, unless you become a clone of the cult, you are doomed.
Matthew 10:33 But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven. 34 Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.… Christian Sociopaths, divide and rule.
What is a sociopaths vs psychopaths? Psychopaths tend to be more manipulative, can be seen by others as more charming, lead a semblance of a normal life, and minimize risk in criminal activities. Sociopaths tend to be more erratic, rage-prone, and unable to lead as much of a normal life.
If you read the rest of what the apostate Paul said here, we can see he is suffering from cognitive dissonance: "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things." ~ the apostate Paul Here Paul admits that corruptible man, birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things, are apparently NOT good representatives of a good Godhead. I agree. However, this is dissonant from what was said earlier in the paragraph, about how the things that are manifest in nature DO represent the Godhead, so much so, that anyone observing them has no excuse. Furthermore, if these things are foolish to use as representatives of a good Godhead, then anyone saying, or any book saying, that man is made "in the image of God" , qualifies to be exactly that foolish. Even worse, if any Godhead did make these things, including "corruptible man", and then called them "good" (a reserved word describing the Godhead), then that "god" (the god of this world), is itself some kind of fool, crafting these things in the first place, as if they at all represented any kind of "image" of the divine Good, let alone any kind of goodness. Paul tells us they are not good. So if they are not good as carved, or molten representatives, how are they good as any kind of representative? Pointing to all these things as if they speak so clearly for the Godhead that they leave "no excuse", is not far from the proposition of pantheism, which suggests that all that is made is, or represents the divine Good. Quite the contrary, all that is made, in the material world, is actually what i would call reverse pantheism. That would be the total misrepresentation of any god that is actually Good. As such, the material world makes a mockery of any god that is actually Good. This should be the most obvious interpretation of any observation of material manifestations. That is why i say, YOU have even less of an excuse for maintaining your interpretations. Yes, interpretations. Your interpretations expose your motives. It is just as easy to conclude that the god-of-this-world is not exactly your friend.
The more you study it, the less it verifies itself, and the more it expresses cognitive dissonance. Arguably, there are two quite different gospels trying to emerge from the book, the context of one trying to bury the context of the other. For example, there are plenty of indicators exposing the god of this world to be the devil himself. Just google "god of this world bible". But the most revealing expose is when, in arguing with Jesus about the quality of their heredity, Jesus flat out told the Jewish leadership that anyone tracing their genealogy back to Adam, has, as "father", the "devil", who has been a liar since "the beginning", which is a reference to the very first sentence in Hebrew liturgical priestcraft. This more than implies that Adam's maker, the actual god of this world (Jehovah), was the so-called "devil". So it would not be surprising to find more references to the god of this world as being our actual adversary. From the cognitive dissonant Paul: "4 Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God." This expresses the problem i'm having, convincing the Judeo ("Judeo-Christian") branch of interpreters, who appear to be super blinded to what i'm trying to convey about Christ, which is much better news than the news they've been pushing for some centuries now. Anyone who does believe the god of this world is the Father of Christ, will be even more blinded than any atheist who dared not to compare the Father of Christ to the god of this world. Those who count themselves to be children of the god of this world (descendants of Adam) are fond of speaking of a judgment, sometime in the future. But i tell you, the only judgement needed is the one Jesus laid down a couple thousand years ago, when he pronounced the god of this world to be the thing you must overcome, rather than the thing you must bow down to. Yes, it IS a judgement, to pronounce the god of this world to be any of the following: 1.)the "devil" 2.)"Satan" 3.) the "prodigal son" 4.) non-existent 5.) a faith-based phenomenon I prefer any of the last three because i don't like to dignify the god of this world with any kind of name, or personality, as if it were actually alive, and still a threat. I believe that is why Jesus used the analogy "prodigal son", to play down the current threat, and help us recognize that the making of the world, and our participation in the world, are closely connected. We are responsible, to the extent we can be, for the formation of the world. Jesus admitted this himself, not to boast, but to confess. And with this confession he was able to be forgiven. There were really only three things Jesus meant to convey: 1.) To convince us in regards to sin, 2.) To convince us in regards to righteousness, 3.) and to convince us in regards to judgement. No, not some judgement off into the future. Here is the actual judgment: "...and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world has been condemned.…" This is not future tense. This is past tense, or something that is currently taking place, in regards to what you think about the god of this world! This is exactly what Jesus thought about the god of this world, and would explain why so much friction between the Jews, and their belief in the god of this world, man's maker. This is the same friction i experience when convincing Judeo brand believers (Judeo interpretive interpreters) that believing what Jesus believed, is more important than believing anything any one says, who also believes in the god of this world. This is good news, which is being buried under the "context" of the other gospel (Paul's Jewish brand gospel narrative) competing with the gospel of Jesus, which is more like advaita vedanta of eastern origin. The judgement you make, about the god of this world, will determine whether you are freed, or remain a slave to sin. About sin, i have already informed all believers in the god of this world that sin is the manifestation of seriously insane notions (s.i.n.) about Christ. As a reverse pantheistic expression of (mockery of) any god that is Good, the material manifestations of the god of this world are certainly insane notions about reality (Christ) taken way too seriously (as if made real). Finally, about righteousness, the only righteous thing to do in this situation is to return to the original condition: "…in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see Me;" So, righteousness is to leave ("overcome the world"), and don't come back ("sin no more"). To remain, is simply to consent to the perpetuation of the mockery, and to maintain notions about Christ which are seriously insane. " in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me;" Anyone who believes seriously insane notions about Christ/Truth/Reality does not believe, let alone follow, anything Jesus actually said, meant, taught or demonstrated. If you look around and "see" anything that represents Christ at all, you are utterly blinded by the god of this world.