Did God send Sandy?

Warning: If you are easily offended, please do not read any further.

I can't believe some still believe that storms are from God and that it is sent so people might repent. Another popular interpretation is that storms are happening because America is not supposedly standing with Israel. 

i. If the storms are from God, Jesus was defying God's will when he calmed the storm.

ii. 'Repent' is one of the most misunderstood words in Christianity. It is associated with guilt, deep remorse, beating one's chest, wailing and all the associated actions.

The word 'repent' comes from the Greek word Metanoia, which simply means "a change of mind". Disasters do not make one repent; it is the GOODNESS of God that leads to repentance (Rom 2:4).

Think about it, who in their right minds would want to have a "relationship" with a god who is looking forward to "test" them with natural disasters?

iii. As for the Israel connection, Obama has said time and again that under his leadership, America is and will continue to stand with Israel. And given his penchant for drones, there is no doubt that he will bomb Iran, should Iran act on their dumb idea to "wipe Israel off the map." But I applaud Obama's strong stand for maintaining diplomacy. 

What else does the religious zealots need? Go ahead and bomb Iran without any solid proof that they have nuclear weapons? What was the excuse again, for invading Iraq?

Forget about international politics, do we realize how colossally stupid we sound to 'the world' (that we so love to judge and condemn) when we scream "pro-life", but are for war (regardless of how overt or passive we are in our support)?

iv. This is the New Covenant. God is not angry, as we are led to believe from the Old Testament.

v. God is love. Love does not destroy lives and property. How simpler could it get?

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear..." (1 John 4:18). Any teaching, interpretation and/or prophecy that promotes fear is not from God.

At the end of our lives, may we not say, "I was a faithful parrot all my life". We may not have all the answers, but let's not blindly believe something because "that's what my favorite preacher says" or "that's what I've heard all my life, so it must be right".

God gave us a brain, to think.

The Idiocy of our Popular Belief

Galileo was called a heretic by the church and was arrested for saying that the earth revolved around the sun, because it stood against the church's then-prevalent interpretation of the scripture (even though he did not see that his findings stood contrary to the scripture). 

We look back and laugh at the idiocy of the actions of the church.

There will come a day, probably couple of generations down the lane, when everyone will laugh at the idiocy regarding the now-prevalent belief that, God who is Love, would FRY his creation, ENDLESSLY. 

The forerunners of this revelation, will no doubt, be classified as "heretics" now; but that is the price for sharing what the heart knows already.

This truth cannot be taught or shoved down, but only proclaimed. The seekers will find it.

Related posts:

The Cosmic Turtle
Love is...
My Thoughts on Raising Hell

Time to get it right!

"Here is how the religious system works...ready...."His mercy endures FOREVER" (means only until you die) . "Hell last FOREVER" (which means there is no end to it). " As in Adam ALL die" (which means the whole human race) "even so in Christ ALL shall be made alive" (which means only a few that pray the right prayer and make the right confession). I Cor. 15:22. "For as by one mans disobedience MANY were made sinners" (which means the whole human race). "so also by one mans obedience MANY were made righteous"(which means only a few that pray the right prayer and make the right confession) Rom 5:20......I am afraid the world has caught our double talk more than the Sunday pew sitters..Time to get it right."

- Don Keathley

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry Christian

"Sinners in the hands of an angry Christian"..Now that is a thought that will keep you up at night. To think that God has given flawed, messed up, self righteous Christians the sole job and total responsibility of "winning the world to Christ" is mind blowing to say the least. Then on top of that if the Christian does not do his job he goes to heaven but those who were not reached because the Christian did not work hard enough or was too lazy to do his job are assigned to a torture chamber to burn for all eternity is well, just messed up. I just have to believe that an Omniscient, Omnipotent Father and creator of all just has to have a better plan.

- Don Keathley

101 Lies Taught In Church Every Week

In case you have not seen this video series as of yet, here is the link to the Intro video of 101 Lies Taught In Church Every Week, by Steve McVey. The rest of the videos can be found here.

'Worship Service'

"Luther reformed the content of the gospel, but did not change the basic structure of the 'worship service'. This reformed-Roman Catholic-Jewish meeting pattern was baptized by the Baptists, anointed by the Pentecostals, misused by the cults, renewed by the Charismatics, put into uniform by the Salvation Army, dry-cleaned by the Quakers - but was never radically changed. 

The 'services' were essentially still performances, audience-oriented masses... where many spectators and consumers observe a few very involved religious specialists perform for them and with them. (Today's churches) have too often become 'fellowships without fellowship'".

- Wolfgang Simson in his book 'Houses That Change the World'

What is our Motive?

"If you're doing good and being spiritual just so you can avoid hell and get some kind of reward in the afterlife then you're missing the heart of God and the life of Christ by a mile. This life is not about leaving earth for eternal life in heaven someday. It's about populating earth with the life of heaven in the here and now.

Be free!"

- The Free Believers Network

Arrogance Vs Curiosity

Arrogant certainty is the thud that we hear when we hit the walls of the box that we are in at any given point in time.

A child-like curiosity helps us plow through those walls.

Are we sure that we have we examined our Faith?

"If you've accepted every tenet of your faith without questioning and without examination, then it is not your faith to begin with. What you have are the beliefs and teachings of others that you've swallowed whole and learnt to repeat and recite.

God has no grandchildren.

When you take away the books, the traditions, the denominations, the teachers and preachers, the group mentality... and after you've examined your heart... what are you left with? That is yours."

Be free!"

- The Free Believers Network

The Symptoms...

Symptoms you may be suffering from a religious behavior management disorder:

1. You feel spiritual pressure to be a good Christian, rather than confidence that you are able to live from your new and supernaturally-strong heart.

2. The message you’re hearing from church leadership is chiefly about avoiding sin, rather than indulging the goodness of your new heart.

3. Fear of not living up to God’s or others’ expectations is stronger than your sense of God’s delight in you.

4. Spiritual heaviness.

5. You're constantly being asked by leadership to be more committed.

6. Every message is about getting you to do something, or to stop doing something.

7. The leadership is more concerned with managing people's sin, than releasing a new life that is now within them.

- Ted Nelson 

The future belongs to...

"The future must not belong to those who target Coptic Christians in Egypt – it must be claimed by those in Tahrir Square who chanted “Muslims, Christians, we are one.” The future must not belong to those who bully women – it must be shaped

 by girls who go to school, and those who stand for a world where our daughters can live their dreams just like our sons. The future must not belong to those corrupt few who steal a country’s resources – it must be won by the students and entrepreneurs; workers and business owners who seek a broader prosperity for all people. Those are the men and women that America stands with; theirs is the vision we will support.

The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam. Yet to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn the hate we see when the image of Jesus Christ is desecrated, churches are destroyed, or the Holocaust is denied. Let us condemn incitement against Sufi Muslims, and Shiite pilgrims. It is time to heed the words of Gandhi: “Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.” Together, we must work towards a world where we are strengthened by our differences, and not defined by them. That is what America embodies, and that is the vision we will support."

- President Obama, from his speech at the UN General Assembly, Sep 25, 2012

Here is the link to the full text of President Obama's speech at the UN General Assembly.

The Unshakable Kingdom

"A Japanese banker said to me: "Before the war we had a saying that 'Business is like a folding screen. It won't stand unless it is crooked. Make it straight and it will fall.' We acted on that. The consequence was that we had a very bad reputation for our goods - beautiful, but shoddy. Then at the close of the war we decided to change and adopt the Christian idea of loving your neighbor as yourself 

and doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. We did this nationally, and the government watched all the goods manufactured in Japan and made them conform to the new pattern. Result? Our reputation went up and now Japanese manufactured goods are tops and our economy is humming."

- E. Stanley Jones, from his book The Unshakable Kingdom And The Unchanging Person