Don

But, that’s just me. What do I know?

Im just wondering, do you think that when we die, all of our addictions and fears leave us? Do you believe that our physical death ends our problems?

I am convinced that the power of the gospel of grace and peace is the cure for our addictions. Freedom is not an opportunity to indulge, it is an opportunity to break the bonds of addiction. It gives us a chance to honestly look at ourselves and our situations, we can see (often, for the first time in our lives), who we really are, and where we really live. Religion doesn’t offer hope for the addict, it only trades one addiction for another. “Discipline” is not the cure for addictions, it is only another addiction for which the old one is traded. And it can be just as insidious and destructive as the addiction it replaced.

I am also convinced that coming to a real understanding of God’s incredible, relentless Love is the most powerful life-changing event that can happen in someone’s existence. When one begins to realize that the Creator, who left a piece of Himself inside of each of us, loves us without condition, requirement, or expectation… a “contentment” sets into our hearts, and the hunger (doubt, fear, worry, shame) inside begins to lessen. The more we realize who the Father is, and how He sees us as His perfect creation, the less our inner hunger becomes. And the more our hungers lessen, the more satisfied we become. And the more satisfied we become, the more our contentment grows. It’s a “good” cycle of increasing peace.

The cure (heaven) is very near, my friends. It is in us, and all around us. But, traditional religion has mounted a veil between us and our ability to realize God. Religion tells us that God is out there “somewhere” and only through vigilant effort can we even have a chance at connecting with Him. They tell us we need to suffer, struggle, and strive to seek God. They hang God out there like a carrot in a stick, knowing that we will keep going in whatever direction they carry that stick. They know that we will do whatever they want, just for a chance at getting closer to that stick… not knowing that they will always keep it just out of our reach. It’s about control and manipulation, and because of it, they have placed generations upon generations of their followers into a sickness of despair and hopelessness.

I read a research article once about serious criminals (I wish I still had the statistics, but I don’t) that stated a high percentage (I think it was around 80%) of those prisoners were taught to fear God, and had grown into a very negative view of God as an angry task-master… a demanding disciplinarian, ready and willing to punish and torment people who don’t measure up to His lofty expectations and requirements (all my paraphrasing).

Driving people into hopelessness through burdensome religion is not the answer for a better civilization, it is a recipe for death and destruction. Freeing people’s minds from the “angry, vengeful God” is the answer. Sure, religious indoctrination is not easy to overcome, but we owe it to every individual on earth to share the news… “God is not angry with you”! That’s all they need to know. Let it work on them. Plant the seed, and let time take its course. It can take a while to deprogram the mind, and detoxify from religious indoctrination. And remember, it’s not your job to change someone’s mind. God will take care of that. Just express your love, and wait. There is no need to debate, argue, or even discuss, just tell them what you believe, and when questioned, just say “when the time is right, you will realize what I have said is true.”

Plant the seed, and let God water and warm the soil.

This is interesting to say the least - I have many friends who have been convicts or are still on that path - and it ain’t because of any form of religion they are choose to self-destruct.

I think the point is to reach them where they are at. I have a friend that is a now a Muslim - he converted in jail…prior to that he spent his teenage years and adult life in and out of institutions. What brought him to any sort of faith was a fear of death (he almost died) and the need to find something better than his current set of beliefs.

He became a Muslim and what stuck with him - and I would say turned his life around 180 - is the amount of structure he was given to follow. I would also say the same for myself as teenager at 17 - I lacked something to make me disciplined (having no good form of it as a child or youth). These were starting points more or less.

Now I am a place where faith is more about how I want to live and enact it - and not so much about the discipline/rules system - those things helped to guide me to further understanding. I would say the same for my friend (the Muslim) - and in due time he will also continue to latch onto peace, love, equality, and kindness (the things we lacked the most as children). Eventually we graduate to consider the idea of a grace so strong it cannot be broken.

The reason it is not wise to deliver this message to convicts (I generalize of course) is that they cannot recieve it. They didn’t get there because of their discipline in life - they got there because of their lack of it. How can we expect someone with no discipline to accept an idea about grace that is so freeing - but also without a definitive set rules for building discipline. I don’t think we can…and they need to go through the process like the rest of us…as much as we dislike the rules based thing - for some - it is very neccesary (if for the sake of developing their life and moralities).

I would meet them where they are at - and that requires they look into a more disciplined life - whether that is for addictions or emotional problems that cannot be placed correctly. Although I like Bruce’s faith path - I am not sure all can recieve it without the background or some sort of background in the rules of the system.

Don’t feel bad that the only place you feel comfortable to share this message is on the Internet. Just the fact that you are seeing this grace in your own life is so vital that whether you ever share it with others or not is not the issue. Just the fact that you are experiencing it in your own life is enough in itself. When and if the time comes that you can share it with others, you will know when the time is right. In the meantime, just enjoy simply knowing you are free from the bondage and fear you used to experience because of the wrong message that is preached out there. I am in much the same place as you are as far as sharing it, but rejoice in the freedom I have found in His Grace and love. No more bondage, no more fear……I am truly free.

“I think it would pre-mature to put an idea like this in someone’s head without the real background to handle the extent of it’s freedoms (which is free indeed).

Societyvs,
What would you do then?
Because the doctrine that the church has taught for as long as I remember has no power to set these captive free. Why not tell them of the true Gospel that Paul preached? The Guilt, fear and condemnation that has been taught in the past has not emptied the prisons in the least. So why not give it ALL to them and let God sort it out?

Peace
Geo

Don

also thanks Bruce & Cliff for you words of encouragment, loved what you had to say John T, although I don’t see things as some “set up system” by a supposed theistic being out there somewhere, we do, as humanity, reap what we sow, and that I suppose is perhaps why the spirit of grace is so sweet and refreshing.