The OT is Not On Par With Jesus

"The Old Testament is not on par with Jesus. The Bible is not a flat text where every passage carries the same weight. This is why Jesus says, “You have heard it said, but I say to you…” 

... 

Wars of conquest, violent retribution, the institution of slavery, and women held as property are all “Biblical.” But when placed in the light of Tabor they must be renounced." 

- Brian Zahnd

Read more: Jesus Is What God Has To Say

Spine

On Gays: 

"Who am I to judge a gay person of goodwill who seeks the Lord?" 

On Finding God in Everyone: 
"God is in everyone's life. Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else, God is in this person's life." 

On Faith and Doubt: 
"If one has the answers to all the questions that is the proof that God is not with him. It means that he is a false prophet using religion for himself. The great leaders of the people of God, like Moses, have always left room for doubt. You must leave room for the Lord, not for our certainties; we must be humble." 

- Pope Francis

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Now this is an example of someone, who has a spine.

God, Dogs and Cats

Dogs give birth to puppies. 

Cats give birth to kittens. 

The Christian religion, for decades, have been indoctrinating that, humans are worthless worms. This idea is laced in our messages, songs and prayers.

Without an ounce of respect, and with fervent passion, I disagree with that notion.

God created man in His own image and likeness. We are masterpieces (Ephe 2:10 NLT), whether we believe it or not. 

God created gods (John 10:34). 

Back to the animal analogy. 

Dogs bark. Puppies bark. 

Cats meow. Kittens meow. 

God is a creator. If we are His children, aren't we supposed to do the same too? 

We do. 

We consciously, or unconsciously create, with our intents, beliefs and words. 

The New Age camp recently popularized the Law of Attraction. I learned the heart of that message in a church setting, way before I read one book about LOA. And this is not to say that Christianity owns the patent to this timeless truth. 

But when we realize that our intentions, our core beliefs, are create-ive in nature, that will awaken us to a radically new perspective. 

As much as I value the power of our words, our words are merely thoughts and beliefs, given form. We don't say something that we do not believe. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. 

And this is precisely why, what we believe, or how our mindset is programmed, matters. 

I don't know how "free" our will is, but I believe in the power of choices. We can choose to reprogram or renew our mindset - with create-ive belief patters that will free us and help us soar; or debilitating belief patterns that will chain us down, that will make us think we are chickens, when we actually are eagles. 

By the way, there is nothing wrong with chickens; the point is, it would literally be a crippling experience for an eaglet, if it were to be raised around the chicken mindset.

Angels and Demons

There was a phase in my teen life when I tried to be an atheist. I read plenty of books on atheism and I thought I was one. But deep down, I could not agree fully with the notion that there is no God, which is why I say that I tried to be one.  

Wasn't it common sense to become an atheist or at least be an agnostic? Angels, demons, virgin birth, resurrection? For sure, it must all be part of a big religious hoax, designed to control the mass. 

Or is it?

Either way, I still could not commit to the concept of there is no God.

Why could I not believe in atheism? Perhaps it was due to the fact that I had received Jesus Christ to my heart at a younger age?

It is possible. But I am not sure. 

Fast forward to the present. Right now, I believe that it takes an immense amount of faith to declare that there is no God. I can see why people are allergic to religion (I know I am). And I see how the biblical stories may be perceived as fairy tales and mythologies. 

But to come to the conclusion that this universe and everything that contains it popped just out of the blue... I just do not have enough faith to believe that blindly, because my next questions would be, where did the blue come from and how did the very first cell come into existence? "It just happened" violates the basic scientific principle of cause and effect. Nothing just happens. I think it's an insult to the intellect to even consider that reasoning.

Even Charles Darwin was skeptical about his theory.

His words: "To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree."

But then, what do I know? I might be a close-minded religious nut job incapable of thinking for himself.