Salutations,
It seems as if last weeks topic of free will was nothing short of explosive. It’s nothing like challenging religion to get your responses flowing. I was starting to think you all didn’t care. Of course, I got backlash for my stance but it wasn’t anything I didn’t expect. However, what truly surprised me was the support I received. I didn’t expect many of you to agree with me. It is a relief to know that I’m not alone. Sometimes I feel like an island “or peninsula, maybe. Makes no sense. I know, crazy…” Anyway, whether you agreed or disagreed, I was happy to see everyone expressing his or her apodictic* opinions. I don’t mind a person with a different point of view as long as they believe it with all their heart. For all of you who didn’t like last week’s topic of free will, I do apologize however I can’t help how I feel. We are all grown ups and that was a grown up topic. I have set up a blog so if anyone wants to post a rebuttal, feel free. The address is at the bottom. And if you thought last week’s topic was blasphemous, you may want to delete this Catalyst because…well, you’ll see.
Last week, we discussed our free will. Free will is freedom to make YOUR OWN decision. This week I want to talk about God’s will. (I tried to warn you) What is God’s Will for our lives? I’ve struggled with this question. I spent countless Sunday and Tuesday services trying to figure out what exactly is my purpose. I spent so much money buying tapes, books, and DVDs trying to find out what God wanted me to do. I studied the Bible using my Strong’s concordance in an attempt to take a peek into the mind of God. You know what I came up with? Nothing. So one night as I was praying I said, “God, please give me direction. Show me what I’m supposed to do with my life. Beyond that, show me You.” It was a simple request. However, the reply shook me to my core.
God told me that there are so many misconceptions about Him. He said that although people have the best intentions when they give His message, they some times miss the point. You want to know some of these misconceptions? Well, one is that humans are born sinners, evil, and contrary to what is God. If God were the Creator, then why would He create something that is the opposite of Him. If God is our Father, how can His offspring be evil? Sure, our bodies are born through flesh but what about our consciousness? You know consciousness, that part of our mind that has no weight, color, or smell but controls everything we see and do. Our conscious comes from somewhere and saying it comes from our parents is silly beyond words. Some of you may say that we create our own consciousness. That’s true, kind of. I believe we develop our conscious but to say we create our conscious is absolutely outrageous. The Bible says that “as a he (man) thinks in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7 KJV)”. So if you think of yourself as a sinner, guess what? You are. All you can hope to be in life is a sinner, a good one but a sinner nonetheless (if that makes sense). You don’t deserve anything because you are evil and can’t be anything but evil UNLESS you accept Jesus into year heart (AND go to church every Sunday AND give your money to the building fund AND the children’s church fund AND the pastors new suit and Bentley fund AND on top of that tithe and offering). No other religion will work, just the one you believe. But what if you don’t think of yourself as a sinner? What if you think of your self as giant who can do anything, be anything, and accomplish ANY goal you want? What if you have the courage to stand up for what you believe in and not be a mindless automaton that believes any and everything from somebody with a tailor made suit and charisma. God did not create us to get by until we get to Heaven. He created us to dominate. Do you dominate in your life? If not, as the late Ike Turner would say, what the problem is?
Another misconception, God told me, is that He is separate from us. We, as Humans, think that God is in Heaven looking down on us scrutinizing everything we do, judging us every minute of every day. That’s not God. That’s Santa Clause. God is not separate from us. We couldn’t separate ourselves from God even if we wanted to do so. We are pieces of God. Like I mentioned last week, God is inescapable. He is everywhere we look. God is not holding a grudge over what Adam and Eve did. Humans hold grudges. I don’t know how we could ever think that anything we do will make God emotional. Happiness, jealousy, anger, regret and sadness are emotions humans depend on for direction (unstable ones at that). God is not a person. Surprisingly, He is also not American. He’s not Black. He’s not White. He is actually not even a “He”. I call God “He” because calling him “It” seems weird. I would call Him “She” but I get enough emails. God is, period. God is infinite and any time we define Him we show how ignorant we really are. I know what you are thinking. Well, aren’t you trying to define God? Yes, I’m TRYING to define God. I haven’t come up with a satisfactory definition yet. I know I never will actually define God but the journey to do so is exhilarating.
In our discussion, God showed me so many things. He recommended books that challenged what I knew. He said if I wanted to really get to know God, I would first have to forget what I’ve been conditioned to think. That task was harder than I thought because I had religion drilled in my mind since about 5 years old. I assumed what I knew was the unequivocal “truth”. But in order to see Heaven you must enter as a child. What do children do? They constantly ask questions. If something doesn’t make sense they say so. They keep asking questions until they are satisfied with the answer (Why mommy? Why? Why?). There is one more thing that children do. They rarely take “because I said so” for an answer.
“He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.” - Albert Einstein
Dream Big. Live Bigger.
The All-American
www.rallostyles.com
http://thecatalystexperience.blogspot.com/ (After constant prodding, I’ve set up a blog! Subscribe and invite friends. Vote whether you feel the topic or not. Leave your responses. Make sure you are nice though. My mom reads these. The Catalyst is officially interactive. Now, everyone can share his or her thoughts!)
*Word you’ve never heard…
apodictic /ap-uh-DIK-tik/ adj. – expressing absolute certainty
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
The Catalyst
Good day to you,
Recently, I got into a heated debate with one of my friends. Don'tworry we kept it civil. I don't believe in raised voices or losingfriendships over ideas. We were disagreeing on the parameters of freewill in the Biblical sense. My friend was telling me how God giveshumans the gift of free will to choose between good and evil. Mystance was that we couldn't possibly have free will, using herexplanation, if God orders our steps and there is punishment forstepping outside those boundaries. I informed her that according toher interpretation of the Bible, free will wouldn't exist. Let meexplain further (read all the way to the end before you cast the firststone).
Now, when we talk about free will what comes to mind? Free will bymy definition means that I get to make my own decision based off mycurrent knowledge and/or belief system. Now, I won't argue the factthat I can make my own decision. However, according to various"rules" set by the Bible, I can't do everything I want to do becauseGod may not like it. Depending on what it is, He may even deny meentrance into Paradise if I don't conform to His wishes. This iswhere my argument starts because to me that's not free will. I havethe freedom to make any decision I want but depending on what God hasto say about my choice, I may be condemned to everlasting suffering. So if that's the case I ask you, do we really have free will? Let'slook at it this way. When the American Civil War was over, the slaveswere "free". However, most of them couldn't read. No one would hirethem. They still couldn't vote or attend schools. They were stillgetting lynched by an establishment that didn't want to progress. So,were they "free"? I guess it depends on your definition.
You may be wondering why I brought up the subject of free will. Ibelieve that some of you never exercise free will because you arescared of what God will have to say about it. Your decisions may notfit into God's plan for your life. You have let these televisionpimps, oops I mean, preachers tell you that your choices have to beapproved by God. You think that God will punish you if you make the"wrong" choice. Fear of consequences will keep you inside theproverbial box your entire life if you don't shed your stinkin'thinkin'. Don't get me wrong. I believe in God. But the God Ibelieve in is more than likely different from the God in which youbelieve. Your God will reject anyone who doesn't fall in line withHis strict guidelines. My God accepts everybody as is. You have toinvite your God into your heart before you see change. My God isinescapable. He's there whether I invite him or not. Your Godpunishes you for stepping out of line. My God encourages me to dowhat I want. That doesn't mean that I will steal or smoke crack orkill anybody I don't like. I don't want to do any of those thingsbecause for one, I know there are consequences for those actions andtwo, it doesn't help me advance towards my goals. It won't be Godpunishing me; it will be the ramification of my actions that willpunish me. What would you do if the fear of condemnation weren'tinstilled in your mind since you were 5 years old? Where would yougo? What type of people would you hang out with? Here's the bigquestion: Would you have more fun?From my understanding of God, He wants to experience life with me. God is everything. We are all just little pieces of God roamingaround inside God trying to experience all that God has available forus (<-- it will make sense later). Most people will never experienceeverything that is available because they are so caught up with goingto Heaven they forget there is a world in front of them waiting to beexplored. We constantly worry if our plan is in line with God's planand little do we know that God wants to do everything we want to do. Our will is God's will. God wants us to follow our heart. Whateverwe decide to do God co-signs on it. Your pastor doesn't tell you thisbecause it's bad for business. I know all this sounds like blasphemy.We have been taught that God has a plan for our lives and if we don'tfollow it we will be miserable. We've been taught that Satan makes usdo bad things. This is convenient because now we don't have to acceptresponsibility for our actions seeing as though the devil makes uscorrupt. However, the only Devil you should be concerned with is theone you see on your driver's license. That is the one who is makingbad decisions. That is the one who impedes your momentum. Nothingforces you to do what you don't already want to do. I believe weestablish our own destinations in life and God gives us thedirections. That, my friends, is free will. You are the author andGod is the editor. Your life will be what you make it. Here's tohoping you will finally do what you want not what you are told. Iguarantee your life will be better when you stop concerning yourselfwith God's approval. This may be an alarming statement but I will sayit despite how I will be *anathematized. You already had God'sapproval before you were even born. What you've really been waitingon is man's approval. Wake up and live, people!
"The goal of the Creator is for each entity to make a consciouschoice to again seek Oneness, out of our own free will -- not becauseanyone else forced us to. If we are told what to do and what tobelieve, then we have learned nothing and will not make any progress.Perhaps the single most basic realization to make is that we live in aloving Universe. If we are all One Being, then it is foolish for us tohate anyone, as we are only hating ourselves."--David Wilcock
Dream Big. Live Bigger.
The All-American
www.rallostyles.com
www.myspace.com/lavishlounge (<--February 10, 2008. Tix are sellingfast. Don't wait!)
*Word you've never heard...
Anathematize /uh-NATH-uh-muh-tyze/ verb -- to curse or denounce
Recently, I got into a heated debate with one of my friends. Don'tworry we kept it civil. I don't believe in raised voices or losingfriendships over ideas. We were disagreeing on the parameters of freewill in the Biblical sense. My friend was telling me how God giveshumans the gift of free will to choose between good and evil. Mystance was that we couldn't possibly have free will, using herexplanation, if God orders our steps and there is punishment forstepping outside those boundaries. I informed her that according toher interpretation of the Bible, free will wouldn't exist. Let meexplain further (read all the way to the end before you cast the firststone).
Now, when we talk about free will what comes to mind? Free will bymy definition means that I get to make my own decision based off mycurrent knowledge and/or belief system. Now, I won't argue the factthat I can make my own decision. However, according to various"rules" set by the Bible, I can't do everything I want to do becauseGod may not like it. Depending on what it is, He may even deny meentrance into Paradise if I don't conform to His wishes. This iswhere my argument starts because to me that's not free will. I havethe freedom to make any decision I want but depending on what God hasto say about my choice, I may be condemned to everlasting suffering. So if that's the case I ask you, do we really have free will? Let'slook at it this way. When the American Civil War was over, the slaveswere "free". However, most of them couldn't read. No one would hirethem. They still couldn't vote or attend schools. They were stillgetting lynched by an establishment that didn't want to progress. So,were they "free"? I guess it depends on your definition.
You may be wondering why I brought up the subject of free will. Ibelieve that some of you never exercise free will because you arescared of what God will have to say about it. Your decisions may notfit into God's plan for your life. You have let these televisionpimps, oops I mean, preachers tell you that your choices have to beapproved by God. You think that God will punish you if you make the"wrong" choice. Fear of consequences will keep you inside theproverbial box your entire life if you don't shed your stinkin'thinkin'. Don't get me wrong. I believe in God. But the God Ibelieve in is more than likely different from the God in which youbelieve. Your God will reject anyone who doesn't fall in line withHis strict guidelines. My God accepts everybody as is. You have toinvite your God into your heart before you see change. My God isinescapable. He's there whether I invite him or not. Your Godpunishes you for stepping out of line. My God encourages me to dowhat I want. That doesn't mean that I will steal or smoke crack orkill anybody I don't like. I don't want to do any of those thingsbecause for one, I know there are consequences for those actions andtwo, it doesn't help me advance towards my goals. It won't be Godpunishing me; it will be the ramification of my actions that willpunish me. What would you do if the fear of condemnation weren'tinstilled in your mind since you were 5 years old? Where would yougo? What type of people would you hang out with? Here's the bigquestion: Would you have more fun?From my understanding of God, He wants to experience life with me. God is everything. We are all just little pieces of God roamingaround inside God trying to experience all that God has available forus (<-- it will make sense later). Most people will never experienceeverything that is available because they are so caught up with goingto Heaven they forget there is a world in front of them waiting to beexplored. We constantly worry if our plan is in line with God's planand little do we know that God wants to do everything we want to do. Our will is God's will. God wants us to follow our heart. Whateverwe decide to do God co-signs on it. Your pastor doesn't tell you thisbecause it's bad for business. I know all this sounds like blasphemy.We have been taught that God has a plan for our lives and if we don'tfollow it we will be miserable. We've been taught that Satan makes usdo bad things. This is convenient because now we don't have to acceptresponsibility for our actions seeing as though the devil makes uscorrupt. However, the only Devil you should be concerned with is theone you see on your driver's license. That is the one who is makingbad decisions. That is the one who impedes your momentum. Nothingforces you to do what you don't already want to do. I believe weestablish our own destinations in life and God gives us thedirections. That, my friends, is free will. You are the author andGod is the editor. Your life will be what you make it. Here's tohoping you will finally do what you want not what you are told. Iguarantee your life will be better when you stop concerning yourselfwith God's approval. This may be an alarming statement but I will sayit despite how I will be *anathematized. You already had God'sapproval before you were even born. What you've really been waitingon is man's approval. Wake up and live, people!
"The goal of the Creator is for each entity to make a consciouschoice to again seek Oneness, out of our own free will -- not becauseanyone else forced us to. If we are told what to do and what tobelieve, then we have learned nothing and will not make any progress.Perhaps the single most basic realization to make is that we live in aloving Universe. If we are all One Being, then it is foolish for us tohate anyone, as we are only hating ourselves."--David Wilcock
Dream Big. Live Bigger.
The All-American
www.rallostyles.com
www.myspace.com/lavishlounge (<--February 10, 2008. Tix are sellingfast. Don't wait!)
*Word you've never heard...
Anathematize /uh-NATH-uh-muh-tyze/ verb -- to curse or denounce
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
