Fear and Christianity
This Roy Bits comes in response to a comment
that was entered on my guest book 4/13/04, which reads as follows:
I want to know about why
Christians against about New Age. Please answer me. Thank you. (Exactly as
written)
The submission was unsigned, but I decided to
respond to it, because I think it is a very good question.
Christianity is not so much
based on the love of God, but rather the fear of God. Not all Christians are
intolerant of other faiths. Those that are, live in fear. Some of the churches
teach that their way is the only way to God. This is not that hard to
understand, if one considers that churches are institutions that must be
supported by their congregations, financially as well as with donations and free
labour. In other words, churches feel that they can not afford to have their
congregations supporting other faiths or churches because it will take away from
theirs. Most all directors, clergy and supporters have a responsibility to their
congregations and to the institutions that they are responsible for. Without the
support of their members the church would cease to continue.
Religion, as we know
it, was created by mankind, not God. God has no need for religion. What would he
do with it? Is he/she not perfect? Religion is man's attempt to explain
spirituality...which is the relationship between man, his environment and other
living things. Christianity and other faiths simple have an agenda that includes
it's own survival. Man very cleverly wrote the rules for Christians, that
include supporting the church, and did not leave any room in the rules to
support anyone else that did not support their system of belief.
New Age is somewhat
different. New Age believers do not organize that much. They make themselves
known individually as messengers, profits, poets, painters, speakers and
writers. Man does not need anymore religions, and New Age is aware of that. We
believe in as little structure as possible. Yet we all communicate at some
level, and are linked around the world at some level of consciousness.
We do not believe in
right or wrong, but in things that work or do not work for us. We are
observers...we do not repeat the things that do not bring love, joy, or
abundance into our lives. We teach from the other end of the stick, which is
unconditional love. We are not joined together by fear, or punishment. The
separation that seems to exist between us is what we call unconditional love. We
understand at the deepest levels that we are all one, and that the distance or
separation between us, is just an illusion. We celebrate all religions and faith
systems. We recognize, that all are equal and simply a symbol or sign post of
were each of us are in spiritual awareness. We value the other religions and
faiths, because they bring our own belief system into physical awareness.
One chooses a
religion, because it represents how one sees him or herself in the world in the
present moment. In other words, if it feels good, you choose it. No, one
religion is better than another. They are simply all steps in the same
direction. Your first step is no better or worse than the 10th step on you way
to the refrigerator. You must go through all of them to get there.
To put it another way...if
you have four freshly made pies laid out on the table, one apple, one cherry,
one peach, and the other blueberry, which one is better than the other. The
answer is none of them. You may have a preference for apple, but, that doesn't
mean that the cherry pie is bad. Now the people that made the apple pie may
think differently. If they are selling their pies, they of course will want you
buy apple. They may tell you how good apple pie is, and how satisfied you will be
when you have some. Some people may get greedy and not want you to have another
kind of pie. These dishonest people will make up lies about cherry pies and tell
you not to have any, or you may get sick. The more dishonest they are, they more
they will try to put fear into you, so that you will stay with apple pie.
Further, they will want you to tell everyone else that the other pies are not
good for you. They may even tell you, that if you have other types of pies, that
you will no longer be able to eat apple pie, because you may become addicted to
cherry, peach or blueberry and you will never come back to apple.
As you can see, that
this can really get carried away. As ridiculous as it sounds, this is what some
religions do. In fact some religions will tell you, you are going to hell. Some
even encourage their followers, to kill those less worthy. I believe it is
important to understand how these people want to protect what they believe and
their church. I think it is perfectly OK for them to do that, if it serves them
well to do so. However once you can see past this behavior, you free yourself to
move onto something that works for you and will enhance your life.
Believe anything you
want, after all religion is made up. But know this, if what you are believing in
does not bring you joy, happiness and abundance in your life...you must leave it
behind and find something that works for you. Only you know what that is. Don't
let anyone ever tell you what you have to believe in. When you do this, you give
up your power to change or become what you desire. You become a puppet or a
mindless body, that is easily manipulated.
Always ,always embrace
freedom. Freedom to believe anything, and allow others to do the same. Observe
what they believe, and if some of it works for you, you may want to add it to
yours. Share you belief with others that are willing to listen. And always
encourage them to find their own belief system. Your religion can never be
someone else's, for you are unique, and so is your creation. Always encourage
them to be greater than yourself. The greatest gift for any teacher, is to see
the student become even greater then themselves.
Never stop creating
new beliefs. Don't get stuck on one, allow it to grow, and keep moving. You were
put here to create...create anything that you wish. That is the wish of your
creator. It's the only wish that he/she has.
Enjoy you apple pie,
your cherry pie and the others. All are enjoyable, all are equal, none is better
than the other, except as a preference...and always allow others to enjoy their
cherry, or peach pie in peace.
Live for the joy of
being able to eat any pie that you desire, when you desire, until you are sick
of it. Believe me, if all there was, was apple pie, you would get very sick of
it after awhile. Celebrate the choices you have and the freedom to choose. My
favourite pie is pumpkin...so what!
Always work to create
something that works better in your life, like a better religion, no religion or
a belief system. Live in peace, with others.
So to answer the
anonymous persons question in one word, it would be 'FEAR.'
Roy is a resident of British Columbia, Canada. An international published author, a student of NLP, spiritual philosopher, New Age Light Worker, Teacher and Phenomenologist. Roy's books and articles are thought provoking, and designed to empower your imagination.
Review Roy's new book at: http://www.yourlifewasnevermeanttobeastruggle.com
