Real Religion
Real religion doesn't ask for your money and won't accept it. Real religion doesn't care by what name you call the all mighty. Whether you use Yahweh, Allah, God, Earth Mother, Jehovah, Lord or anything else, the all mighty is not confused.
Real religion maintains that love is a deep caring for the happiness and well being of another. Real religion has only one rule--try to love everyone. It's enough to be willing, the all mighty knows that you are not perfect.
You don't need someone else to tell you what is the right thing to do. Go to a quiet place at a quiet time, relax your mind and your body, consider the definition of love, think about the one rule. Whatever guidance you need will come to you.
Don't get confused. If the direction you receive is a message of love, it comes from the all mighty, otherwise it doesn't. Sometimes one's own greed gets in the way. Don't get confused, love is not sex, love is a deep caring for the happiness and well being of another. That might include sex or it might not.
The all mighty is not like us. The all mighty has no fixed form, but takes on whatever appearance is most suitable. Thus, while the all mighty might choose to appear as a man, it does not make sense to think of the all mighty as male, or to have a particular sexual orientation, or a particular ethnicity. Thus, Christians have the Trinity--one God in three forms, the Jews and Muslims have one God, and some groups have many Gods. Even so, there can only be one all mighty or there would be no all mighty.
The all mighty does not dwell at any fixed location, but may be anywhere or everywhere.
The all mighty is whole and complete and does not need anything. The all mighty is not the semi-mighty, the nearly mighty or the sort-of mighty. Because the all mighty has no insecurities, the all mighty does not need reassurance from us. Prayer, then, is for our benefit. Any sort of prayer or meditation is suitable.
Long ago and far away, there was a group of people whose lives went along from day to day with little change, until one summer there was a drought and the crops failed. The people demanded an explanation from the priests. The priests looked about for a cause. They settled upon something the people had been doing that they didn't like. They told the people that was the reason for their misfortune and not to do it anymore.
A few years later, the climate was perfect and they had the most bountiful harvest in living memory. The priests searched for an origin. They noticed something the people were doing that they favored and told them that was the cause of the bounty. Henceforth, they were always to do that. After a few hundred years they had more rules than any ordinary person could remember, so they invented writing.
Most churches have too many rules, most governments have too many laws, most philosophers have too many words. Principles should be obviously desirable and stated in simple, straight forward language. The rest should be left to individuals to decide for themselves.
Love is a deep caring for the happiness and well being of someone else, try to love everyone.
This one rule is enough and will stand the test of time. The rest is commentary, related to current circumstances. Do not make a fetish out of the commentary while ignoring the rule.
Church Exclusivity
Many churches function primarily as social clubs, promote exclusivity and provide their members with a false sense of superiority that has little to do with religion. Most religions and churches are associated with particular ethnic groups. Even the Roman Catholic Church, while it attempts to be universal, in the US allows a French Church, an Irish Church, a Polish Church and others to operate in the same city and not necessarily a very large city. In the Balkans, Northern Ireland, the Middle East and other places, these genetic associations result in people engaging in what is ethnic strife, in fact, and hide it behind religious disagreement. Put the other way, almost all supposed religious conflicts have an ethnic core.
Billy Graham's Pretence Revealed--
Southern Baptist pretence of support for Jews was always a sham. The revealed remarks of Billy Graham make this clear, his belated apology notwithstanding. Catholics and others should take note.
Fundamentalists--
Fundamentalist Muslims, Jews, Christians and others would tear the world apart, rather than moderate their irrational and obsessive claims to exclusive truth. That is not the way to the Almighty's universal peace.
Old Testament Christians--
Some people who call themselves Christian quote the Old Testament while ignoring the words of Jesus.
Christ's Message--
Christ's central message of love, forgiveness and working on your own sins (rather than those of others) has nearly been obliterated by what claims to be his church.
Hearts and Minds
Some people among us have hearts full of hate
Change their hearts, O Lord
LORD CHANGE THEIR HEARTS
Some people treat others in ways that are cruel
Change their ways, O Lord
LORD CHANGE THEIR WAYS
Some people among us have minds full of anger
Change their minds, O Lord
LORD CHANGE THEIR MINDS
The anger, cruelty and hate that is in me
Change me, too, O lord
LORD CHANGE ME, TOO
Thy Kingdom Come
It's not the sort of autocratic political organization that the word, kingdom, might otherwise conjure. Instead what is denoted is a particular relationship among individuals, and groups, whereby each is concerned with the process of self-perfecting, rather than instructing others on moral matters. The emphasis is on attempting to live harmoniously with those around us while striving to improve ourselves. In a less than flawless world, it seeks ever more closely to approach consummation. Thy will be done on Earth.
Follow one's own religious convictions
A church can rightly expect its own members to adhere to its rules of behavior. It has no right to insist that other people, who have their own religious beliefs, do so. Thus a Catholic should not have an abortion. A fundamentalist Protestant should not engage in homosexual acts. For the rest of us, we can and should apply our own religious convictions, not theirs. Nor should there be any appeals to religion as a basis for enacting legislation aimed at forcing others to follow the principals of a particular faith or group of faiths. The government should protect religious expression, but not engage in it.
The Miracle of Belief
The most interesting thing about religion is that, in the absence of hard evidence, so very many people believe in the existence of a higher power. There must be soft evidence sufficient to satisfy them.
There are the reports of near death experiences. These seen to convince the person who has had the adventure. No doubt, their stories influence others, particularly family members and close friends. But such events are rare, luckily for the rest of us, and do not serve to explain the phenomenon of widespread belief.
It seems that an even fewer number of people undergo the equally extreme event of having an apparently spontaneous vision of the future. It could be that those, who do, often keep the matter to themselves in order not to be labeled a crackpot. Likewise with individuals who have had prophetic dreams. This latter condition may be much more frequent than has been suspected, although many people have never had one.
There are good reasons not to reveal having had a prophetic dream. For one thing, most dreams aren't. One doesn't really know that a vivid dream is prophetic until the events foretold come to pass. Then it is a little late to go around announcing that you had this dream, perhaps years ago. But anyone, who has had such dreams, or visions, or "out of body"; experiences, knows for certain that there is a higher power that science has not yet discovered. Their certainty may influence others to believe.
The Biennial Ecumenical Conference of Priests had as its theme, Leadership for the Second Century. A particularly spirited discussion followed the well attended panel discussion "Promoting Reliance."
"Too many in my flock don't obey like they should," a man grumbled. "They just think it doesn't matter."
"Scare the hell out of them, I say," asserted a venerable veteran.
"What's 'hell?'" asked a neophyte.
"A terrible place they go to after they've died. If they haven't behaved, that is."
"Will that work?" the lad persisted, doubt furrowing his brow.
"If they think that death is some kind of freedom, why should they listen to you? Unless you're big enough to beat them up, of course."
"The kings have that business sewed up," another participant interjected.
"So what's this 'hell' like?" asked the youth.
"What's your idea of the worst that could possibly happen to someone?" the old man prompted.
From a fellow in the back, "burning to death."
"No," someone chimed in, "burning and burning, but not dying. Burning forever."
"That's the idea. Work on it. Then invent a great alternative for those that do right. Use the old carrot and stick routine."
God Is My Master
God is my master, I should not want. Except to serve him, of course. But it is human nature to want, even though I see how my wants enslave me. Our individual natures are powerfully affected by the needs of our bodies as well as by the family and the society that we are born into. But people are love. This is the essence of the spirit the Almighty gives to each of us. Perhaps if I achieve the necessary self discipline, I will become one with the all mighty at last.
--Some Words of Mother Teresa
People are often unreasonable,
irrational, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse
you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some
unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere
people may deceive you;
Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating
others could destroy overnight;
Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness,
some may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today,
will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.
Give the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis,
it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
Find out how your own views compare with some of the world’s major religions by taking a faith match quiz.
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