Progressive Christianity.

                               

1.  The Bible is a collection of writings by different authors over hundreds of years.

2.  The Bible should be interpreted as poetry and metaphor.

3.  The story of Adam and Eve is a myth.
     It is not true literally or metaphorically.

4.  The Old Testament prophets interpreted their experience of God according to the worldview of the time.

5.  There is no literal devil.
     The devil is an explanation for why bad things happen to good people.

6.  There is no hell
     Hell is out of character for a loving God.

7.  There is no Virgin Birth.
     The Virgin Birth was invented to compete with contemporary mythology.

8.  Most of the miracle stories in the New Testament are metaphorical.

9.  Jesus' commandment was to love one another.
     Jesus said that the first commandment was to love God and the second was to love your neighbor.

10.  Jesus was killed because he threatened the powers of the world - the Pharisees and the Romans.  God did not require his death for our sins.

11.  There will be no Second Coming of Jesus.
       Jesus refused to judge us in life so why would he judge us in the future.


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Thinking Outside the Square.

The Churches need to start thinking outside the square.

The Orthodox interpretation of Christianity has been rejected.

We need a New Paradigm.

But theological colleges around the world enforce strict Orthodoxy on all their members.

They are shut firmly in the square.

This is one of the reasons for the demise of the Church.

Some brave souls dare to challenge this Orthodoxy.

They are to be commended.

But we can never go back.

Christianity must change forever.


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Hat Boxes.

Formal training in Theology leads to particular styles of thinking.

These include theories concerning spiritual development like:

Behavior.
Good Works.
Asceticism.
Mortification of the Body.
Knowledge.
Reason.
Morality.
Faith Alone.
Christology.

And although spiritual development may involve most of these things the heart of spirituality is Love.


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Scapegoat.

Homosexuality is being used as a scapegoat by right-wing religious communities and extreme elements of society.

Preying on the fear and dread triggered by the AIDS crisis many religious people have deliberately heaped the blame for the world's woes onto us.

But their campaigns are lies.

Prejudice and hate fuel a knee-jerk reaction which is irrational and objectionable.

Their protests are an insult to God.

And their claims to religious freedoms are a contradiction of civil rights.

They harass and persecute gay people.

They try to force us to submit to conversion therapy.

And they tell everyone we are going to hell.

But this is a lie.

God does not discriminate.

He accepts gays and lesbians as they are.

God loves us.

And we can claim our place in Heaven.


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Before the Aryan Invasion.

It would appear from archaeological evidence that Yoga existed in Indian civilization before the Aryan Invasion.

These were the river cities of Mohenjo Daro and Harappa.

And their inhabitants were the original Dravidian people of India.

It has been suggested that the Australian Aboriginal people are related to the Dravidians.

The dark skin and broad nose of the Dravidians resembles the Australian Aboriginals.

And there are some similarities in language and mythology.

So the popularity of Yoga in Australia is not as strange as we may have thought.

The spirituality of the Aboriginal people may be related to ancient Indian spirituality.


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Prejudice.

When religious people address controversial issues like homosexuality there is always a backlash of prejudice.

But we should not pander to prejudice.

It should be made clear that prejudice is no basis for spiritual policy-making.

God does not discriminate.

Homosexual love is equivalent to heterosexual  love.

God makes no distinction.

So when people respond from a position of prejudice we should not allow them to dominate the debate.

We should make decisions based on Love.

For God is Love.


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Ask.

"'Ask, and it will be given to you,'"  Matthew 7:7 (NRSV)

This passage is sometimes used by Fundamentalist Christians to imply that God will give you anything you want.

Like money, a new car, or a house.

This is manifestly untrue.

Fundamentalist Christians also say that you should not ask questions - doubt is wicked.

But I would say that the above passage from Matthew could be interpreted to mean: ask questions and answers will be given to you.

This is consistent with my experience.

So don't be afraid to ask questions in prayer.

You may just receive answers.


[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Compartmentalized.

An Indian Yogi once said to me that men's minds were more compartmentalized.

This would explain how the older generation could go to church on Sundays and conform to every demand and still work during the week as if the Church did not exist.

The expression It's a jungle out there  dates from the 1950s when churches were full.

But the Churches of the 1950s allowed no questioning of their doctrines upon threat of hell.

So men merely went along with what was being presented and ignored it during the week.

There may have been some who tried to apply Christian principles to business but they were few and far between.

It would be accurate to say that the businesses of the 1950s were marginally more honest than the corporations of the present day.

But the fact remains: It's a jungle out there.


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Yesterday.

The lyrics of Paul McCartney's song Yesterday epitomize the subtle negativity which poisons rock songs.

"Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away.
Now it looks as though they're here to stay.
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be.
There's a shadow hanging over me.
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

Why she had to go?
I don't know, she wouldn't say.
I said something wrong.
Now I long for yesterday.

Yesterday love was such an easy game to play.
Now I need a place to hide away.
Oh, I believe in yesterday."

This melancholy poem of lost love and regret reflects negative themes which recur in rock music.


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Love or Fear?

There are only two things in the world:

Love and Fear.

And this is how you can divine what comes from God and what is of human origin.

If it is a manifestation of Love then it comes from God.

If it is a manifestation of Fear then it is human.

This applies to all doctrines, theologies. and philosophies.

The Old Testament and the Koran are full of fear-based threats and curses.

These are of human origin.

They are manifestations of the authors' fear of God.
They were unable to conceive of a God who did not judge and punish men and women in the way that Earthly authority figures do.

But God is transcendent.

God is beyond our human concepts.

So if you are trying to decide whether an experience or a theory comes from God ask: Is it a manifestation of Love or Fear?

For Love is Divine.

And Fear is human.


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Soft-Left.

I aspire to being soft-left.

The heart is on the left side of the body.

To have a soft heart is the ultimate virtue.

And left-wing politics manifests compassion and justice.

This is in line with the prophets.

So I aspire to being soft-left.


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Persecutions.

Jesus said that receiving the Good News was "with persecutions". (Mark 10:30)

And when people persecute you "on my account" (Matthew 5:11) you should rejoice.

This is to say that the Good News of the mercy and forgiveness of God may cause fear and violence in the world.

But the Love and faithfulness of God are better than any reactionary attacks that may occur.

We must forgive them and pray for them to overcome the fears that inspire their attacks.

For we have nothing to fear from God.

His Love is an incomparable treasure.

And nothing can take that away.


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Fear.

Why does God not punish the wicked?

Because what we call wicked is inspired by fear.

The so called wicked have experienced violence and abuse in life which has caused them to corrupt themselves and do evil out of fear.

But God knows them.

And He forgives them.

Therefore there is no hell, only transformation.


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The Great Depression.

It is interesting to note that the men who invented The End of History and assumed absolute power after the fall of Soviet Communism were all born during The Great Depression.

They ushered in the era of Capitalism which worships money and profit above all things.

And they have corrupted themselves to attain it.

Betraying their workers and denying climate change.

They obstruct any challenge and deceive any questioning.

They control public opinion and conspire with evil.

How could men do such things?

The answer lies in their childhood.

The fear of poverty and unemployment which dominated The Great Depression affected them profoundly as small children.

And this fear has driven them to extremes.

They never feel as if they have enough to be secure.

So they want more and more money, more and more assets, more and more possessions without limit.

But absolute power corrupts absolutely.

And their reign has seen evil consequences.

The disparity between rich and poor is at the highest level in history.

Racism and xenophobia are everywhere.

And they exploit everything.

But this generation is passing away.

A new generation of leaders is assuming power.

Hopefully they will not be as fearful having grown up in more prosperous times.

It is yet to be seen whether things will change.

But if something doesn't give we may see violent revolutions in the near future.

 
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White Light.

White, good, God, love, pure goodness.....

Charity, humility, selflessness, altruism, integrity.....

Mercy, forgiveness, compassion, generosity, goodwill.....

Light, truth, beauty, benevolence, fearlessness.....

Peace.

An open Heart.

Unconditional Love.


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U-Turn.

Black, bad, the devil, hate, pure evil.....

Money, status, ego, hubris, bravado.....

35 years of lying, cheating, and stealing.

35 years of killing, stealing,and destroying.

35 years of corruption and vice.

It's time to stop the rot.

It's time to turn things around.

It's time to lift up our hearts and minds.

Charity, humility, selflessness, altruism, integrity.....

White, good, God, love, pure goodness.....


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Heaven.

Gay men go to Heaven.

Of this there is no doubt.

If you still cling to archaic texts and modern prejudice then you are on the wrong side of history.

You will be consigned with the likes of slave traders and Anti-Semites to the greater condemnation.

Gays and lesbians will enter the Kingdom of Heaven before you.

And God will welcome and honor us.

So give up your fear and hate.

Gay men go to Heaven.


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Gay.

Homosexuality is love.

And as such homosexuals are no different from anyone else.

We have hopes and dreams like you.

We live and love and follow our happiness as others do.

So now that AIDS is no longer a death sentence and same-sex marriage is legal and can be celebrated in some churches we look forward to an age when we will be equal.

No longer will we be spurned and blamed by society.

No longer will we be damned by religious people.

No longer will we be second class citizens.

But we will live in peace and safety without harassment.

And look forward to our place in Heaven.


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6 Sins of the Religious Right.

1.  The First Sin of the Religious Right:

The first sin of the Religious Right is to claim that everyone is condemned by God.

This Machiavellian manoeuvre puts everyone at the mercy of their priests and ministers and ensures that everyone is under their control.


2. The Second Sin of the Religious Right:

The second sin of the Religious Right is to claim that sex is a sin.

This merely places everyone in the power of the devil and guarantees their power to release them.


3. The Third Sin of the Religious Right:

The third sin of the Religious Right is to make Gays and Lesbians a scapegoat.

This of course ensures that all who obey them are pure and holy by default.


4.  The Fourth Sin of the Religious Right:

The fourth sin of the Religious Right is to claim that God hates and that hate is a Biblical imperative.

This hateful practise reinforces their persecution of Gays and Lesbians and insults our intelligence and insults God.


5.  The Fifth Sin of the Religious Right:

The fifth Sin of the Religious Right is their support for Capitalism.

By labelling Godless Communism "The Evil Empire" they rebound philosophically to the opposite - Capitalism.


6.  The Sixth Sin of the Religious Right:

The sixth sin of the Religious Right is to oppose social welfare and gun control.

Their hard-heartedness and violence is in direct contradiction of the teachings of Jesus Christ.


These and many more sins have guaranteed that the Religious Right no longer has any credibility.


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6 Crimes of Generation X.

1. The First Crime of Generation X:

The first crime of Generation X was to declare themselves Bad.

Bad is good.  I'm no angel.  Sex is bad so bad is good.
Bad boys, bad girls, delinquents.

All theses things are Bad.


2.  The Second Crime of Generation X:

The second crime of Generation X was to blame and shame the Hippies and Baby-Boomers.

By adopting Ronald Reagan's smear of the Baby-Boomers Generation X blamed everything from economic recessions to moral looseness on the previous generation in order to jump the job queue and establish social supremacy.


3.  The Third Crime of Generation X:

The third crime of Generation X was to turn to evil in order to win.

Supporting the devil, even flattering him was a constant practice of Generation X.

Dancing with the devil, taking the devil's advice, everyone wants the dark side.....

These were constant refrains of Generation X.


4. The Fourth Crime of Generation X:

The fourth crime of Generation X was to cynically support the Religious Right as a method of whitewashing their crimes.

The Religious Right supported their materialism and turned a blind eye to their bad behavoir and their spiritual duplicity.


5.  The Fifth Crime of Generation X:

The fifth crime of Generation X was to oppose the unions.

By refusing to pay union fees Generation X caused the loss of wages, conditions, job security, and dignity for everyone.

The hard-fought gains that the unions had made were frittered away and lost forever.


6.  The Sixth Crime of Generation X:

The sixth crime of Generation X was to use violence - verbal, emotional, psychic, and spiritual - to intimidate and bash any opposition to their views.


These and many more entrenched crimes marked the era of a selfish and stupid generation.


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6 Atrocities of Ronald Reagan.

1.  The First Atrocity of Ronald Reagan:

The First atrocity of Ronald Reagan was to label the whole of the Baby-Boomer Generation "unconscious agents of the devil".

This was because the rock stars which the Baby-Boomers listened to had sold their souls to the devil for fame and fortune and the perfection of their art.

They practised black magic and Satanism and filled their music and videos with backtracking and unconscious images of evil.

The inference was that the devil controlled them all through rock music.

But this is not  true.

The Baby-Boomers did not act in overtly evil ways.
They were the victims of Satanism in rock music.
But they were never evil.

Reagan's accusation of course was the first example of demonizing his political opponents.


2.  The Second Atrocity of Ronald Reagan:

The second atrocity of Ronald Reagan was to shame the Baby-Boomer Generation for their opposition to the Vietnam War.

Reagan alleged that the left-leaning Baby-Boomers victimized and attacked Vietnam veterans on their return from the war.

This is not true.

I have never seen anyone of my generation attack or ridicule a Vietnam veteran.

But mud sticks.

Reagan then organized a march for Vietnam veterans to mark his point.


3.  The Third Atrocity of Ronald Reagan:

The third atrocity of Ronald Reagan was to label the mentality of the Baby-Boomers "Politically Correct".

This was a derogatory term designed to dismiss all civil rights and social justice initiatives as somehow wrong.

This particularly played on the rebellious nature of Generation X who reacted against the Baby-Boomers' politics.

In fact what this did was undermine the conscience of our society and endorse bad, even anti-social, behavior.


4.  The Fourth Atrocity of Ronald Reagan:

The fourth atrocity of Ronald Reagan was to rename Cape Kennedy Cape Canaveral.

This was part of Reagan's campaign against J.F.K..

Shortly afterwards stories started appearing in the press about J.F.K.'s affairs and sexual indiscretions.

Mud sticks.

This was a subtle and secret smear campaign.


5.  The Fifth Atrocity of Ronald Reagan:

The fifth atrocity of Ronald Reagan was to call the U.S.S.R. "The Evil Empire".

This was a term from Star Wars which he used to demonize Soviet Communism.
 

6. The Sixth Atrocity of Ronald Reagan:

The sixth atrocity of Ronald Reagan was to use Pope John Paul II in his political campaign against Communism. 

Reagan used the Polish Pope to foment rebellion in Poland through Solidarnos and across the whole Soviet Union.

John Paul II was an Anti-Communist Pope who justified his activities as bringing Godless Russia back into the Mother Church.

Reagan was quoted as saying: "Christianity contains unconventional weapons".  These weapons were: demonization of political opponents, damning of enemies, shaming, and pointing the finger.


These and many more were the crimes of Ronald Reagan.

They were supported by the media and portrayed as victories.

But the truth will out!

Reagan's campaign against the left has resulted in a dark world  full of corruption, injustice. and war.

It can be compared to the McCarthyism of the 1950s.

But it remains to be seen what history will make of Ronald Reagan.
 

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It Matters.

The way you are thinking matters.

If you are constantly thinking negatively you will always be unhappy.

If you think positively you will be happier.

If you think about negative things like: death, darkness, night, dark matter, dark energy, black holes, funerals, evil, punishment, hate, vice, sin, hell etc. you will be engulfed by black moods.

Most of these things are nominal notions which do not correspond to reality.

They derive from dualistic thinking which is tenuous at best.

And they are pushed by Satanic forces in our culture.

Better to think about the positives: life, growth, light, healing, love, good, forgiveness, mercy, compassion, white, virtue, Heaven.....

Then you will be in tune with the Divine.

And that is the Reality. 


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Norway.

Norway is one of the happiest countries in the world.

The average working week is 33 hours.

Overtime is illegal for full-time employees.

Education is free.

Health-care is universal.

Pensions are high.

This is a classical example of Socialist Welfare.

And they are the happiest people on Earth.


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F. A. Hayek.

Neo-Liberalism or more precisely Neo-Economic-Liberalism is based on the writings of Friedrich Hayek.

Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan based their campaigns for deregulation of the economy on his writings.

Hayek maintained that any regulation of the economy was equivalent to Communist Totalitarianism and therefore a violation of freedom.

This is fantasy at best.

And the implementation of his theories has resulted in the gross disparity between rich and poor in our world, the corruption of corporations and governments, the oppression of workers, union bashing, and perpetual war.

It's time to rethink our economic models.


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Nothing?

"But if I give up drugs and pleasure what's left?  Then there's nothing!"

But there's not nothing.

We are not orphaned.

The universal panacea is Love.

Open your heart!

Love yourself!

Give love to everyone!

Love God and love your neighbor.

Then you will experience something.

Love your enemies.

Then you will resemble God.

And God will adopt you.

Pray!

And you will be answered.


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(The image has been slightly modified.)

Drugs and Degradation.

Once we realize that the negative aspects of the Hippie Generation were induced by Satanic rock bands it becomes clear that we have nothing to feel guilty about.

Peace and Love and Social Justice are strong elements of religion.

Sex and drugs and rock and roll are Satanic.

So give up drugs, respect yourself, and throw away your rock albums.

Rock music is Satanic.

And its fruit is suffering.

Reclaim your souls.

And be free at last!


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Now.

What we have to realize is that we are not just here to have a good time.

We may have been abused for attempting to save the world.

But to be reduced to economic consumer units is no life at all.

We are distracted and exploited.

We follow dubious celebrities.

And we are obsessed with sports.

These may be socially acceptable pastimes.

But where is the value in that?

Resurrect your ideals.

Reconstruct your philosophy.

The Age of Aquarius is upon us. 


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Angels.

Generation X' catch-cry was: "I'm no angel."

Well the Hippies are angels.

And we always have been.

It's no boast to be bad and to have one foot in the devil's house like X.

That's nothing to be proud of.

But to be angels and to try to save the world.

We can be proud of that.

And all your violence and abuse will come to nothing.

We have won our place in Heaven.


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Good.

Rock stars, celebrities, and sports heroes have sold their souls to the devil for fame and fortune and a rock star reception.

They manifest evil in our world.

And they deceive and corrupt good people.

The remedy for this is good.

We must manifest good in our world.

And good entails: compassion, forgiveness, mercy, understanding, consideration, generosity, charity, gratitude, and love.

Not things we are encouraged to engender.

But things that are essential if we are to reverse the slow decline of our civilization.


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A Rock Star Reception.

Unknown to us from the 1960s onwards we have been hostage to Satanism in our popular culture.

Rock musicians, movie stars, and sports men and women have sold their souls to the devil for fame and fortune and a rock star reception.

But their diabolical dream to damn humanity is disguised as good.

Some rock bands are openly Satanic.

But the rest of them are disguised as various saviors and messiahs.

Look more closely at their images and lyrics.

You will find darkness, death, suicide, and evil.

Their objective is to sabotage any spiritual aspirations and corrupt any virtue or goodness.

It casts a dark shadow over all of humanity.

And the majority of people are oblivious to its effects.


Photo Credit: The Rolling Stones.