Among Christians, or shall we say, people who call themselves Christians, there are many different views. This is normal and to be expected. For there are many different views among Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and any other identifiable bloc of adherents.
Now you would expect that if two people were to find the truth, that truth would be seen in the same light and both persons would have the same understanding. Ironically, the truth is that when two people discover the same truth, this does not result in the same understanding, but, instead, this often results in misunderstanding because the two individuals interpret this same truth differently. This might sound odd, only this is the truth more often than not. Instead of a truth being understood for what the truth really is, people will interpret the truth and then argue about who is right and who is wrong.
One way of avoiding arguments is to say that your truth is your truth and my truth is my truth. This way we have no need to argue over whose interpretation of the truth is right or wrong. The problem with this apparent problem-solving idea is nobody really knows what is really true. This is because you could as well be saying, "You believe whatever lies you want to believe, and I will believe whatever lies I want to believe." However, we know that no lie is the truth.
The truth about people who believe lies is whoever believes a lie is being deceived. Nobody likes to be deceived, yet this is more often the case than not. Unless a person has the truth, then that person is deceived. If we all want the truth, then we will first of all have to learn to recognize what is false and what is true. If we cannot distinguish between what is false and what is true, we definitely are deceived.
One of the things that amazes me about people is they are all too often ready to defend something that cannot be proved, and quick to reject the obvious. Rather than admit to the truth, most people are more inclined to believe a lie, and then reluctantly acknowledge the truth when it becomes evident that continuing in their personal deception is going to be detrimental to their self-interest and there is no benefit in continuing to be deluded.
When it comes to wanting to know about the truth for your reason for being here on earth, you have to be honest with yourself. To be honest with yourself means that you have to acknowledge you were born on a certain date and have only lived a certain number of years on this planet. What this means is that you cannot really prove history and your personal knowledge of life is restricted to what you have heard, seen, smelled, tasted and touched. Your experience of life is your reality.
Some might say that your reality is not just your experience of life, but what you think of that experience. Your reality becomes your thoughts and not necessarily what you experience with your senses. Since we are conscious beings who are not only capable of being aware of our surroundings but also capable of attributing meaning to our sensual experiences, our personal reality becomes wrapped up in the attitudes we form, and the interpretations of the facts that we consider.
How you can interpret the facts that you see, hear, smell, taste and touch is evidenced by whether you attribute the creation around you to a Creator or to chance. If you believe that cities, planes, cars, ships and technology and other man-made creations were not created by a creator and believe that they merely happened by chance, what can I say? If you believe that moon rotates around the Earth and the Earth revolves around the Sun and there are seasons on Earth, year after year, century after century, and thousands of millennia after thousands of millennia, just by chance, then what can I say? Maybe mathematicians are deceived when they say that odds for such things happening by chance are beyond the bounds of probability.
One thing I know is that I did not ask to be born into this world. Neither do I believe that you asked to be born into this world. Like myself, you just found yourself here. Yes, we are all born into a world that is full of suffering, injustice and subjected to death. Yet according to many people who call themselves Christians, you and I were born to be cast into everlasting punishment by the Creator of the Universe.
Now I was speaking to a Christian Pastor and I challenged this view that people were born to be cast into everlasting punishment. But he said that it was right. Well, if this is right, then God is an unjust God. But according to the Bible God is a God of justice. Now, either the Bible is wrong, or this Pastor (along with all the other people who believe this theory that people are born to be cast into hell) doesn't understand what justice means and is deceived.
Personally, I think most Christians are deceived about quite a number of things and are not really seeking to know the truth. The reason I say this is there are too many Christians arguing about what is right and wrong because they do not want to have a clear understanding of the very words they use.
According to the Merriam-Websters dictionary, "Just implies an exact following of a standard of what is right and proper." To be just means "having a basis in or conforming to fact or reason" and "acting or being in conformity with what is morally upright or good".
There is no way that a just God could create people with the intention of throwing them into everlasting punishment. It is illogical and unreasonable and does not conform with being morally upright. Yet Christians believe this deception, and many try to use it as a means of scaring people into their brand of man-made religion.
Actually, the Bible says that Hell (the place of everlasting punishment) was created for the Devil and his angels. Nowhere does the Bible say Hell was created for men or women. However, the Bible does say that people will also join the Devil and his angels in the event that they reject what God has provided for them. Now who in their right mind would reject what God the Creator has to offer them.
The question for you is to answer is: Have you found out what God has put on the table for you yet?
www.tencommandmentstoday.com
Showing posts with label man made religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label man made religion. Show all posts
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
The Evil Of Religion
Religion, that is the man-made variety, is inherently evil. True religion which is the quest for the truth. Or, as according to James, the half-brother of Jesus, true religion is to "Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world." (Message Bible)
Some time ago I got acquainted with a group of people who had left the Potter's House movement. These people explained to me that the reason why they left this movement. From what I was told it sounded like this religious group was was a man-made religion and not a God-inspired movement. The reason I say this is because these people told me that many people were abused by the manipulative tactics that were used to control members.
The other night I popped into a Potter's House meeting. The ""P-A-S-T-O-R"" came over and introduced himself to me. He seemed quite amiable, but there was a sense of urgency about him. Another person came into the doorway, so I let him greet the next person. This person he made quite a lot of fuss over, and seemed to make a big point about a very small issue the person was having. This gave me the impression that he was overdoing the "concerned-for-you" bit and this man titled "pastor" either lacked a sense of proportion or was disingenuously making out he cared.
The service began and two songs were sung twice. The plate was passed around, and another song was sung. The pastor gave his sermon. Then there was a prolonged call for the unrepentant, the sinners, and the back-slidden to come forth and receive what God had ordained for each person to receive that evening. Since there were only eleven other people in attendance besides the pastor and his wife, I assumed he was talking about me. And since he had this inspired word that we were all present because God had ordained us to be there, I was obviously in the right place-- only I definitely felt no need to respond to his invitation, since I already have peace with God and have the joy of salvation.
Since I was not forthcoming, so as to appear not a complete goose for making such a prolonged altar call, the pastor decided to pray for two of the young Filipinos, so they might receive the Holy Spirit. This he did by mumbo-jumboing while he laid hands on them and encouraging them to mumbo-jumbo after him, so they might then have the evidence of the Holy Spirit. He then told them to keep practising their mumbo-jumbo so they will know how to do it better, and not lose the gift he had imparted.
Afterwards they brought some biscuits and chips out for everybody to have a snack and offered a cup of tea or coffee. As it happened, the pastor and I got to talking and he asked me to describe my religious experience. I asked him which version the complete version or a shorter version. He said he would settle for the abridged version. So I gave him a snippet of the introduction to the abridged version.
Evidently, having the joy of the Lord is insufficient for salvation, according to him. Having a genuine experience of receiving salvation as I have had is invalid unless I receive in the proper way. I needed to have a ""Potter's House"" experience and do ""The Potter's House" thing.
On the basis of the conversation, it appears to me that the Potter's House movement is in need of serious overhaul in getting its theology right and learning what the truth about God is really. Just chasing people in the streets and telling them they are going to Hell, if they do not repent and be saved the Potters House way, is not salvation. In fact, Jesus warned people about going all out to make converts and making them twice as much a child of Hell as themselves.
On the noticeboard, as I walked in the door, I noticed a letter from the chief of the hierarchy explaining how complaints against Pastors have to be processed. But it is not really scriptural because it is like the peers judging peers. If pastors were true pastors they would care for their flock and not abuse them. Evidently, the problem of abuse has been an issue that warrants letters from the hierarchy. In reality, a true spiritual movement should not really have this problem. A man-made organisation obviously does.
Moreover, I am of the conviction that if someone is really living for God, then that person would be very much a representative of Jesus Christ and people would seek that person out. I am sure that if people are demonstrating the characteristics of Jesus Christ, their reputations would go before them.
As we continued talking, it became apparent to me that ""THE POTTER'S HOUSE" is a man-made religion that gives people who produce growing congregations a self-righteous sense that they are serving God by saving people as they become members of the "THE POTTTER'S HOUSE" religion.
Essentially, the movement holds to the belief that God creates human beings with the sole intent of throwing them into an everlasting fire, unless they cry out in fear and scream out, "God have mercy on me!" After you have done that, by learning how to speak mumbo jumbo, you have the evidence of the Holy Spirit.
The truth is this:
You did not ask to be born into this world, so how can God throw you into an eternal lake of fire to be tortured for ever and ever, if He is a righteous and just Creator.
Furthermore, Jesus said this: "Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice!'"
If Jesus says that God desires mercy to be shown to him, then most of these fire-and-brimstone evangelicals who condem all men to hell-fire unless they repent of the evil of being born a wicked person, and false-baptism-in-the-Holy Spirit Pentecostals, need to be set free from their deception.
The reason why God says He requires mercy is you can judge him for causing you to be born into a sinful, wicked world. Think about it. This is why Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful, they will receive mercy! Man-made relgion is all about sacrifice, never about loving, caring, giving, forgiving, and understanding the purpose of the Creator, so that life is worth living.
www.tencommandmentstoday.com
Some time ago I got acquainted with a group of people who had left the Potter's House movement. These people explained to me that the reason why they left this movement. From what I was told it sounded like this religious group was was a man-made religion and not a God-inspired movement. The reason I say this is because these people told me that many people were abused by the manipulative tactics that were used to control members.
The other night I popped into a Potter's House meeting. The ""P-A-S-T-O-R"" came over and introduced himself to me. He seemed quite amiable, but there was a sense of urgency about him. Another person came into the doorway, so I let him greet the next person. This person he made quite a lot of fuss over, and seemed to make a big point about a very small issue the person was having. This gave me the impression that he was overdoing the "concerned-for-you" bit and this man titled "pastor" either lacked a sense of proportion or was disingenuously making out he cared.
The service began and two songs were sung twice. The plate was passed around, and another song was sung. The pastor gave his sermon. Then there was a prolonged call for the unrepentant, the sinners, and the back-slidden to come forth and receive what God had ordained for each person to receive that evening. Since there were only eleven other people in attendance besides the pastor and his wife, I assumed he was talking about me. And since he had this inspired word that we were all present because God had ordained us to be there, I was obviously in the right place-- only I definitely felt no need to respond to his invitation, since I already have peace with God and have the joy of salvation.
Since I was not forthcoming, so as to appear not a complete goose for making such a prolonged altar call, the pastor decided to pray for two of the young Filipinos, so they might receive the Holy Spirit. This he did by mumbo-jumboing while he laid hands on them and encouraging them to mumbo-jumbo after him, so they might then have the evidence of the Holy Spirit. He then told them to keep practising their mumbo-jumbo so they will know how to do it better, and not lose the gift he had imparted.
Afterwards they brought some biscuits and chips out for everybody to have a snack and offered a cup of tea or coffee. As it happened, the pastor and I got to talking and he asked me to describe my religious experience. I asked him which version the complete version or a shorter version. He said he would settle for the abridged version. So I gave him a snippet of the introduction to the abridged version.
Evidently, having the joy of the Lord is insufficient for salvation, according to him. Having a genuine experience of receiving salvation as I have had is invalid unless I receive in the proper way. I needed to have a ""Potter's House"" experience and do ""The Potter's House" thing.
On the basis of the conversation, it appears to me that the Potter's House movement is in need of serious overhaul in getting its theology right and learning what the truth about God is really. Just chasing people in the streets and telling them they are going to Hell, if they do not repent and be saved the Potters House way, is not salvation. In fact, Jesus warned people about going all out to make converts and making them twice as much a child of Hell as themselves.
On the noticeboard, as I walked in the door, I noticed a letter from the chief of the hierarchy explaining how complaints against Pastors have to be processed. But it is not really scriptural because it is like the peers judging peers. If pastors were true pastors they would care for their flock and not abuse them. Evidently, the problem of abuse has been an issue that warrants letters from the hierarchy. In reality, a true spiritual movement should not really have this problem. A man-made organisation obviously does.
Moreover, I am of the conviction that if someone is really living for God, then that person would be very much a representative of Jesus Christ and people would seek that person out. I am sure that if people are demonstrating the characteristics of Jesus Christ, their reputations would go before them.
As we continued talking, it became apparent to me that ""THE POTTER'S HOUSE" is a man-made religion that gives people who produce growing congregations a self-righteous sense that they are serving God by saving people as they become members of the "THE POTTTER'S HOUSE" religion.
Essentially, the movement holds to the belief that God creates human beings with the sole intent of throwing them into an everlasting fire, unless they cry out in fear and scream out, "God have mercy on me!" After you have done that, by learning how to speak mumbo jumbo, you have the evidence of the Holy Spirit.
The truth is this:
You did not ask to be born into this world, so how can God throw you into an eternal lake of fire to be tortured for ever and ever, if He is a righteous and just Creator.
Furthermore, Jesus said this: "Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice!'"
If Jesus says that God desires mercy to be shown to him, then most of these fire-and-brimstone evangelicals who condem all men to hell-fire unless they repent of the evil of being born a wicked person, and false-baptism-in-the-Holy Spirit Pentecostals, need to be set free from their deception.
The reason why God says He requires mercy is you can judge him for causing you to be born into a sinful, wicked world. Think about it. This is why Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful, they will receive mercy! Man-made relgion is all about sacrifice, never about loving, caring, giving, forgiving, and understanding the purpose of the Creator, so that life is worth living.
www.tencommandmentstoday.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
