Time for a Name Change

I've been writing this small introspective blog for several years now under the name of 'rants on Christianity' but my posts were not so much rants as they were my personal reflections and feelings from my experiences, and how i think I've grown spiritually since. After the recent events in the news which to me are sad and puzzling it caused me to question my blog name. A rant is a negative word, and I didn't want my blog to be in any way shape or form seen as a negative position towards faith. And several have told me in the past 'your writing isn't rants, it's good stuff man!' I am glad for that. But it's time for a name change! Call it a social responsibility to make sure that we (I) put forth a positive image, whether its at work or home, with friends or even on a little blog you write on from time to time with personal thoughts and ideas. Our current freedom of expression gives us many liberties to agree, disagree, rant or praise - but as people of faith (all faiths) we should always put forth the positive, which is praiseworthy, which will bless and does not curse. To quote the Bible - Philippians 4:8, "Finally, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

Chris

Common Ground

When you can step back away from the center, and look around a bit, your opportunity there is to see things from a new perspective. You can see your past, present, and potential future. You can look around and compare the way you think and act with the thoughts and actions of others, and if you're willing to open your eyes you can peer past the shallow surface differences and find at their core that we are all just alike. Rite and ritual, words and books, sacred places and things are but a shadow of the truth. Those things only help us focus our attentions on the divine aspect of the universe, the world, and the divinity within ourselves. It is at our core where our humanity is no different than any other. And our humanity wants, needs, hungers, thirsts, desires love and attention. It sweats, stinks, gets chilled and overheated, lusts, we're greedy, get fat, skinny, old, and none of us by being holier than the next or focusing on our desired spiritual path can escape our own demise. A warm blanket or a hot bath or good tasting food holds the same value as it did for the first human, we're no different. No culture, people, or race is immune to these things. We all like children play make believe, we talk to ourselves and often answer, we all want to feel important and special. Some belief systems frown on these ideas, that the cultivation of basic human desires is categorized as 'evil'. But we were made in God's perfect image and likeness, and instilled in us all are those innate wonderful characteristics we are often taught to repress. But it is our humanity that is the common ground on which we can all agree. And there's something incredibly powerful and spiritual about those ties that bind us all together.

Wow

So I've been thinking about writing another blog article so i logged in to my blog website and realized the last thing I wrote was in January. Now it's May. It gives me a chance to pause and stare at the wall and utter a 'huh..' out loud. In recent conversations I've had with friends and acquaintances there seems to be a growing awareness that I'm happy to see. It's not always been there, but been growing steadily the past few years - that or I'm more in tune with it. That being people cutting ties with the traditional views of Christianity or spiritual thought in general. There's a shift happening. Some would call it the 'great falling away' of the church. But I see it as a great awakening from traditional values that have long since grown stale. Does it negate the message of Christ? As always my answer will be 'of course not'. But the message as it's been delivered has been proven to be full of holes and changes, edits by the hand of mankind - leaving most of the goodies of the true texts on the cutting room floor. So we are as I've often said stuck with believing in something we cannot see, and cannot trust the bible or any speaker to deliver the truth - only our own gut instinct can tell us fact from fiction.
From the beginnings of my religious intolerance it was hard for me not to feel some bit of guilt for not going to an established place of worship. But I soon realized it was how I was taught from a child. That's what believers were supposed to do. Go to church on Sunday. But I broke free of that bondage and now realize looking back that no church on earth is necessary if the people's hearts are in agreement. The temple of the Spirit of God doesn't rest in a building made with hands, but in flesh and blood. Then the notion of sin and heavenly punishment can be dealt with next - in a spiritual intervention of sorts - where we must let go of the notion that God is an angry child abusing deity who'll lay one on you for being human. Those same human traits He himself designed. Much of this comes from that book again, the highly edited pages where we're told to fear a loving God, fear His punishment and wrath, fear death and hell, and fear our own judgment to keep all His little children in line. But contradict the line of BS with 'we're free moral agents, we can make our own decisions'... but your decisions are wrong if they don't line up with the word of God. Give me a break.
From our infancy as children of God in the western Christian tradition we're told that since we're babes in Christ we have to start off with the 'milk of the word' the simplistic teachings designed to help us understand and grow in God. Then as we're seasoned and indoctrinated into the fold of believers then the 'Meat of the word' gets shared - where we dig in and feast on the deeper things of Heaven. The problem with that is every pulpit in America is stuck spraying its congregations with milk every Sunday. The simple teaching. Most of the congregations will never see it that way. They go because they were told too, and listening to the same old tired sermons week after week doesn't bother them. But the meat of the word can't be shared there. It can only be found on your own without the intervention of others - no family, no friends, no church, no pastor, no bible, no tv or radio or magazine can share with you the truth. You have to discover it. Even at the cost of turning your back on traditions you've held onto since you were a kid and saying 'i will search this out for myself and come to a conclusion based on what i find and know in my heart to be the truth'.
I guess that's why I named this blog 'Rants on Christianity' a few years ago. It's so easy for me to rant about something I am really honestly passionate about. Faith is a great subject. Religion and tradition anyone can do, anyone can go through the motions - but true spiritual power comes from breaking through the haze of it all and seeing things clearly from your own perspective. Try it for yourself and let me know how you're doing. I hope all of you find the truth for yourselves. It will be much more valuable to you when it's your own discovery.

Chris