In the past years, since I have rediscovered God, I have been to a few different churches. With some more churches than others, I remembered why I stop going to begin with: The pure fascination with calling ourselves-or being labeled as-sinners.
Didn’t Jesus die for our sins? That was the deal, right? Now that he sacrificed, we can move on? I constantly and consistently thank him for his sacrifice. But then I move on…
So why do some churches and/or preachers have to drag out how allegedly deplorable and disgusting we are for what we continuously do?
I was told once that to have a relationship-any relationship- you need not constantly remind the other of their wrongdoings or mistakes or sins as they could grow weary of you and leave.
Or just continuously take the abuse because they do not think they are worthy of better treatment and or relationships.
I know I just made a pretty bold statement there, but it stands to reason.
I guess there is a third possibility there which is humans go to church only because they think they are socially required to with no idea that they are being continuously insulted and just zone out in sermons about what to make that night for dinner or think about the movie they watched on TV last night.
Oh, and put some money in the tithe plate when it goes by to seal the religious deal of being ‘saved’…
I have found a home in Elevation Church in that they do not constantly shame us in their sermons, but I honestly still don’t like being there for the beginning and ends of services because of the christian music. I am just not comfortable with it.
Why? I am not totally sure. Maybe because I don’t think He really cares. Maybe I feel that He is just nodding his head and saying “Just prove it. All this is not necessary to follow me.”
But to each their own. If that is what you need to follow, then so be it.
I am a God fearing man. I believe that we could not have just come from lizards. God and Jesus are all around us and in us ALL THE TIME. Whether we like that or not. There is something divine that has us here.
The question is, will you acknowledge that God and Jesus are ‘always’. Will you live in alignment with it. Will you celebrate it.
I was listening to a testimony from a person who had an out of body experience when he almost died as a child in a biking accident. He said in his recollection that God told him that He was not interested in our glorifying Him. He was only interested in our being on the correct path with Him.
That makes sense to me.
So being in church for me is not a place for repenting, but a place of recognizing His place and our path in our lives through bible verse and interpretations that can help the human part of us lead a better life. So that when we get to the spirit separated from physical part, a transition is much simpler.
Just because you glorify him continuously (or just on Sundays in church) does not mean you follow him. God knows that. Leading a righteous life helping yourself to be a good person and helping others do the same is what He is looking for.
I once heard and nodded at the statement being in church makes you a christian(or whatever religious pact you are in) as being in a garage makes you a car.
I even believe that there are humans out there leading a good righteous life as I just said who don’t necessarily even purposely acknowledge God. That they just know what they are ‘supposed’ to do and do it. Those said humans don’t purposely shun Him either.
To think that I live in a sanctuary on this planet is absurd. We have to have temptation to prove who and what we are. We have to make the right decisions to prove who we are and that we are worthy of him in our lives.
We have to have challenging views and catastrophic events to test our faith in our lives. To get to where He is, we have to be tested and strong…and happy.
I am one that although I know He is always there, how is He always there? There are many views and theories and examples of God and Jesus in the physical and metaphysical realm that I believe are worthy of god and and Jesus’ existence. I note many here on this site and on optimize-your-life.net, my other site. I know that He is there inside of us and in everything in spirit.
But what is spirit? Can it be touched or seen or is it only intangible? Is it only faith. Is it only felt?
You have to believe.
You have to believe that you can be the best you can be to be.
Like Him.
He only has to say “I am” because he is everything and everywhere with no regards to time and/or place. He is the creator. Of all.
We, too are creators. Of our own lives. Through Him. We cannot say “I am” in that we do have the same ‘powers’. But what he does not have the power to do is control us. That is our decision to follow Him so that he can lead us. We will then be better creators for our lives and closer to Him.
This post may have started off as a bit of a rant, but it is closing like this: I believe that He is an all powerful, righteous God. I know he has my back by me not believing anything any other than Him. To not believe the evil I sometimes think. But having evil thought inside of my fleshed head doesn’t make me a sinner.
Is it a coincidence that ‘evil’ backwards is ‘live’?
I believe to be in the moment is to be as close to Him as we could be, if we want.
I believe to be truly conscious and aware and doing the right thing is recognizing Him.
I DON’T believe that I am a sinner because Jesus has already died for me and everyone else. I know God and know that he is in my heart and is my soul. I know He loves me as does Jesus. I know I am forgiven for NOT knowing His power in my life.
To believe that I am a sinner from birth means that I am a sinner for being born. That is entrapment. I didn’t ask to be born. I don’t feel God works that way. I feel and know that Jesus died for us. Because of that alone, I will live positively, gloriously, ecstatically and exhuberantly until I die.
That is how I live.