I didn't know that is what you were saying. I thought you were telling me as a non christian & unbeliever I was fucked and when I die, in a split second I'd know I was toast in hell.
I'm just trying to speak as clearly as possible about a subject matter that is mainly psychological. S.I.N. is a psychological illness. Jesus figured it out either through genius, or through the readiness of meditation and forgiveness, and received direct injections of knowledge. One small seed of knowledge, if fallen on the right soil, and nurtured, can grow to a giant tree where people can enjoy the shade from the hot sun. When i was about twenty, i did receive one small seed of direct knowledge, and have been nurturing it for many years. In a quest to nurture the seed during the first twelve years, i did join the Judeo-Christian culture; first a Hebrew liturgical priest-craft (bible-based) centric denomination called Rhema Bible Fellowship for two years, and then the Roman Catholic Church for ten (yet another Hebrew liturgical priest-craft centric culture). So i can understand how much of a temptation these ideologies can be. In retrospect, they contradicted the seed of knowledge i had received, but it took me that long to figure it out enough to reduce any further influence to zero. So i understand how deep is the psychic blindness caused by s.i.n. So i don't condemn anybody. I just feel that if i can shake it off, so can you. I'm not genius, having just made an honest income through construction. I feel, through experience, that you can't/won't shake it off because of basic fear, in contradiction to Jesus own admonishment to "Fear not". I tried to deny i had fear of god for a long time, and even gave talks on healthy fear, not too much, not too little sort of justifications. But finally i had to admit it when i was out in the desert, and had my own Lieutenant Dan moment where i expressed my anger at what seemed to be the source of the fear, god, took a stand against it, and made my peace. I've been without fear ever since, and at peace with two core axioms: Fear illegitimates it's source, always. And, If there is a god, it must be Good. After casting out fear, i was left as an agnostic for 25 years. My response in this thread is largely motivated by the desire to help others overcome fear, so that they too can follow Jesus example to "Fear not". Just looking at it from a psychological point of view, i have learned through years of employment, that fear stifles one's ability to perform optimally on the job, and prevents learning. Thinking stops when a boss uses the fear card. I found that i made MORE mistakes on the job, whenever responding to fear. At some point i adopted a zero fear policy on any jobsite, does not matter who. I would not fare well in many kinds of cultures. Likewise, fear of god stifles learning, and prevents you from performing optimally. I believe that this is a factor in many a Judeo-Christian inability to understand what I'm saying. You simply cannot perform if you believe that your thoughts are being monitored for dissonance from the group-think. This is why i believe that agnostics and even atheists, are in the best position to understand the psychological medicine that Jesus promoted. Jesus suggested prostitutes were in a better position to understand than the Jewish leadership, mainly because they have a lower fear factor. You don't have a zero-tolerance policy in this regard. Indeed, you and the OP are using factors of fear to motivate people. Really, this is in direct contradiction of Jesus own admonition to "Fear not". This also means do nothing to increase the fear that is already in men's hearts, ever, neither at work, nor in, and especially in, regards to god. Arguably, no progress will ever be made until current levels of fear are reduced legitimately, not through mental gamesmanship (psychic tricks). I needed 25 years of no fear, as an agnostic, to make the progress i've made in the past 12. By agnostic, i mean my attitude was that i do not know if there is any kind of god, but that if there is, it must be Good. I was not saying i knew if there was a Good god, i was just simply raising my standard of what is actually considered good, and that if there was any kind of god, it must meet or exceed this very high standard. Part of that standard is that it cannot convey any kind of fear. You have not yet raised your standard this high yet. Fear illegitimates it's source. So, if a government is inducing fear, be sure that at some level, it is based on some kind of fraud. We tolerate this because we feel we don't have much choice. If a religion is inducing fear, be very sure that at some level, it too is absolutely fraudulent.
Agree 100%, if any person or organisation needs to revert to fear to get their message across, it can be nearly guaranteed they are using coercian based on their unscrupulous motives to get you to make a decision. I can't believe for 1 second a just God would use fear to get humans to follow him, but that's what christianity is all about, a devil who will get you into an eternity of anguish, how pathetic of the bible to pedal such nonsense. Another question I would like to ask, where does "it's God who wrote the bible" come from? What proof have you God wrote the bible? Just more pure religous bs in a never ending stream of christian bs imo.
Ya, I am saying that as well but not in as blunt terms as you use here. What I was agreeing with you on is testing it out for yourself and quit ragging on "religion"
thanks Good1 for bringing your writing down to a level that I can understand. Several points I want to respond to later but the trading day is about to begin. So later ...
"Ye Hypocrites" Jesus told him, "You still lack one thing: Sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me."
LOL, there will be a verse in the bible somewhere which can be used as an argument against that verse. Christianity is like a snake, wriggle creature.