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THE LIBERAL CHRISTIAN |
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A progressive, practical, New Thought approach to Christianity & Spirituality |
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THE LIBERAL CHRISTIAN AND NEW THOUGHT
It was Jesus who taught us the truth of our being. His teachings are the very basis of how we think about God and life. And even though Jesus' teachings are 2,000 years old, the interpretation of his teachings as put forth by New Thought movements such as Unity are less that 200 years old. Not New Age, but New Thought. (See Who Is Rev. Ron? in this website) The New Thought movement is gaining new followers every day. It is the trend in Spirituality today. It is a different way of viewing our world, a different way of experiencing God, and a different way of being a "Christian". The old belief about God that's been around since early Christianity gained a foothold in the roman empire has been that of an old man with a flowing white beard way up in the sky, separated from us, and that we as humans cannot reach this God. Of course early on the intermediaries were the priests who were the only ones who could access or be in touch with this god. The old belief is that God is a moody, judgmental, vengeful, and condemning God that is to be feared. God's gonna get you for that! Like God has a little black book and is watching everything you do and keeping score. And of course is going to make a decision at the end of your life to send you to heaven or to hell. This thinking goes back to the Old Testament and that's why Jesus had such a difficult time trying to get across the concept of God being within and being a loving God. And a lot of Christianity today still has not made that differentiation. The eastern world of Buddhism and Hinduism made it centuries ago. Jesus told us the kingdom of heaven is within, the father and I are one, but that was too much of a reach for the leaders that controlled the early church and would have taken power away from them. They chose not to include some of the great writings in the New Testament. Thomas being one of those books that had a whole lot more of Jesus' universal teachings. New Thought places God as the one power in the universe, the source of all, the creator of all, and is absolute good. God is accessible to you because God is within you, right where you are, inside of you, you are an expression of God and therefore you can never be separated from God. You can't be. We are made in God's image, not the other way around. And as such we too are spiritual. We are the expression of Spirit. But of course we have been given free choice to express that fully, partially, or not at all. When we are trying to be the full expression of that Spirit within us, that which we call the Christ, we are raising our consciousness higher and higher to the level that the man Jesus was able to do. That's why we call him our Way-Shower. And why the very first followers of Jesus after his death were called "The Way". Those early followers didn't have any of the trappings of guilt or sin that the Christian church eventually put on the people 200-300 years after Jesus' death. The old image of Jesus hanging on the cross, blood dripping down his face and hands was emphasized because the church wanted you to believe that Jesus was the only begotten son of God. That Jesus died for our sins and the only way we can have salvation from our sins is to believe in him in that way. He will save us if we will but declare our belief in him. And of course salvation could only come through the priests and the church. You won't see any of those kinds of crosses in Unity because that would be putting the emphasis on his death and not on his life. If the cross is displayed in a Unity church it'll almost always be without Jesus on, and it represents crossing out of negative beliefs or error thinking that occur within our thoughts. Unity chooses to focus on the life of Jesus not on his death. We don't want to think of Jesus as having died for us or that he was a sacrificial lamb. In Jesus' days if you had a sin or a sickness, you would take your finest animal to the holy man and in a ritual ceremony he would place your sickness or your sin in the lamb and then it would be slaughtered. So your sickness or your sin died with the lamb&ldots;it died for you. This idea of Jesus being the sacrificial lamb was perfect for the early Christian church to keep the people in line. It's not that Jesus died for us, it's that he lived for us. It takes courage to take Jesus off the cross and to follow him. And we follow him by what he has taught us and by becoming what he said we all could become. We can all be the example that Jesus was. He was a real person just like you and me. We can manifest the Christ expression just as he did. Certainly that's a new thought. And of course the old belief is that you are a miserable sinner, you are the worm crawling on the ground. God is way up there in the sky somewhere, but you are down here. You're the worm, you are doomed to sin by original sin and you are to be miserable because that is what you are. But Jesus didn't say that. He talked about how you are a Spiritual being. That's a big step to take I know it. But we are more than just our physical bodies. When I'm wearing a nice suit jacket, I give it life. But after I take it off and put it back on the hanger, it'll appear lifeless. But I continue to live, to move, to have happy thoughts because I am more than my jacket. Likewise, I am more than just flesh and bones. 1 Corinthians 15:26 says "the last enemy to be destroyed is death". We think of death as an enemy, but it's not. It's just a passing through another doorway of our Spirituality and doesn't have to be feared. That's a new thought. We look at prayer differently. Not as a cry out in agony, a begging, a pleading for God to hear the recitation of all our problems, but prayer in New Thought is with the heart, from the heart. It's an entrance into spiritual communion with God...a constant prayer. The use of meditation, positive affirmations and denials is to transform our thinking, bringing it in alignment with our true Self. Jesus said to pray constantly. What he meant was not doing...but being. Being in a constant awareness of the presence of God within and acting accordingly. Acting like we know that we are never alone, that we don't have to take on the weight of the world, that God is with us always...that we co-create our life with God. That's a new thought. We don't use water baptism in Unity. Sure some wonderful things have happened to people, they have been changed by baptism, but it's just a ritual. It's a symbol of washing and cleansing. When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, remember what he said, "I baptize with water, but he that comes after me will baptize with the Spirit." Whether you have it either way, what has to happen is a baptism of the Spirit inside of you, a reawakening, a renewal of the mind, and hopefully it occurs every time you go into prayer. I pray it happens to you, not just one time, but every time. I pray that you are literally saved in that moment from your lowest thoughts. That the magic of God comes through you. Not a ritual or a ceremony, but a personal experience of God. That's a new thought. We do communion services occasionally and it's a special time for all of us. It helps us focus on what is important and what we should be thankful for. The old belief is in the power of the bread and the wine. But Jesus used it solely to try to get the disciples to focus on the Christ within. It wasn't a ceremony that he invented for the church. Remember there was no Christian church at that time. We use communion as a means of focusing within. Having common-union with God. I pray you have communion everytime you go into meditation and prayer. That you are so in-filled with the power and spirit of God that every cell in your body vibrates at a higher level, so much so that you have to give it away. That's a new thought. Heaven. The old thought is that you have to die to get there. Those pearly gates, St. Peter, harps, golden streets in the sky. Of course only if the balance sheet is in your favor. Jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven and talked about it, and talked about it, but people weren't listening. He said the kingdom of heaven is at hand, it is within you, it's a right now experience, not a destination. If we were rewriting the Bible today we'd use the translation of the Aramaic word, Jesus' native language, describing "heaven", and it would mean an expansion inside of you, God expanding your awareness. When that happens, you have these overwhelming feelings of joy, love and gratitude. That is heaven, a state of mind, in the Now. That's a new thought. And of course also that scary place that is called Hell. Hades, kingdom of the dead where all the bad people went when they died to spend eternity in the fires of this lower level of spiritual existence...no way out and it is forever and ever. I still hear those fire and brimstone sermons on television. I guess a lot of us need hell to send other people to...but of course we don't want it for us, we want it for them. Jesus referred to a hell occasionally to describe some act as being like hell. He called it Ghenna...either you repented and raised your level of thinking or it will be like Gehenna. Gehenna was a place in the valley of Hinnom, which was used as an incinerator, was always burning from garbage, dead animals and even people who no-one loved enough to give a tomb or grave. It burned night and day. So Jesus was referring to the torture we bring on ourselves, that it's like we are in Gehenna, in other words a state of mind that is like hell. And of course, then we have the devil...you know all the images. The constant battle raging between Satan and God over the custody of your soul. This is rather frightening because Satan occasionally wins the battle...meaning Satan has more power than God. Does that mean we have a partly mighty God, or even a second God, a good God and an evil God? This satanic influence is believed to come from the religion of the Persians that were active in that part of the world. They had a two-god religion...a god of good and a god of evil. But in the purest Jewish tradition from whence Jesus came, there is only one God, one power, in the universe and in our lives, God the good, omnipotence. And we in our individuality determine the extent we choose to express that good. So if we are being evil it's a separation in our consciousness from God...not another force in the universe. That's a new thought. One more...sin. The old thought is that when there is extreme guilt over sin, you are dependent upon the church for salvation. In other words it is permanent and you will carry this sin with you into eternity unless you are saved by declaring your allegiance to Jesus. One of the last things Jesus would ever have expected from people is to make him a god, an idol...that just wasn't his character. So you make a mistake&ldots;let's say a really big one! The law of cause and effect, the universal law that we live in, will take care of it and you will suffer the consequences for your action at some time in some way. As you do unto others it will be done unto you. However, we also have this unconditional loving God energy, a principle, another law, if you will, that says if you are truly repentant for your mistake and you have learned the lesson, you can start again, you can be transformed. The loving energy of God is still within you at the same level it was before you made the mistake and you are still heir to all of God's kingdom. But don't try to fake it...you can't. You've made mistakes, I've made mistakes. I could do a whole lesson on my mistakes, probably a series. But I didn't stay there and God didn't want me to. Through prayer and meditation I've been guided to rise higher than those mistakes. And I continue to learn by the mistakes I make. You see therein lies the Truth. Sin is just a falling short of our divine potential. It's not permanent and there is always the opportunity to learn the lesson, be forgiven, and move on. Isn't it great that we have the right in this country to believe as we want to believe. We all hold our beliefs. All I ask is that you think about why you believe a certain way. Don't take it from any minister, priest, or rabbi. Think, pray, connect, and follow the inner guidance that speaks to you. There are many paths to God and we in Unity don't claim to have the only one. That's a new thought also. Friends...we are pioneers, you and me. This New Thought movement is but a baby in terms of time and compared to the major religions of this world. But it is growing in leaps and bounds. Just look at all the spirituality books and speakers out there today...all pretty much based on New Thought. Religious Science, Science of Mind, and many independent New Thought churches are right there with Unity as the leading force of this movement and it is growing. Don't be apprehensive about letting people know that you belong to this New Thought movement, that you are a Liberal Christian. I don't mean being missionary, but when people ask why you are always so positive and why you are so non-judgmental, and at peace and harmony with yourself ...let them know you are part of the New Thought movement. You may even be told you're going to Hell for believing the way you do. Remember though, Hell is only a state of mind, here now, in this existence. But so is heaven...the state of mind that you and I are constantly striving for and know exists. We've all experienced it, maybe only occasionally, but we have the foundation through Unity and this New Thought world of ours to be in heaven every day, every moment. The choice is ours, and we know it. And that too is a new thought. I choose to be a Liberal Christian. I hope you will consider being one too. God bless.
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