Jesus Christ is ‘creative transformation’

[IA56]

Indeed. My mother was always more about the social aspect of being part of the club than about really communing with God. It's part of what made me eventually become entirely non-religious, or, rather, omni-religious.

I like your breakdown of belief/faith. I think it works for pretty much all religions, too.

Yes, this is the problem or fault many think it is enough to be a member of a comunity/church and it is enough, that the pastor are like negotiation a free ride to heaven, when all is for personal development, and has to be done by self.
Somehow our churches does not be clear on this matter, they does bind members to the comunity and do not guide them for personal development. I remember when I was a member of the church there was many who was so interested to hear about my view they found me so "in love" with God and they wanted to hear more about how it is possible, they them self had "inhereted" theire belief, it was not own disscovery...So I was also told not to stagnet in dogmas, and I found church not to be any growing place for me, and soon after this I went through the roof of religion into the infinity, and I am happy to dared to leave the church comunity and walk in the cold alone....Now I have the total infinity and ALL is in there.

[ButterflyWoman]

I never really "left" any church. I just kind of outgrew it. Not in a derogatory or mean way, but as my awareness became less and less limited, I just realised there was no point at all in observing the rituals and so forth (and I'm not the sort of person who likes to join social clubs, so that wasn't something I needed or wanted, especially with my mother's example). I view religion with great interest and warmth and I have genuine interest in it. I still study aspects of Christianity regularly (textual criticism, Biblical archeology and history, etc.), and I am still captivated by the Bible, which is, after all, a collection of ancient sacred texts (ancient history major ). But I just got to where I didn't need any of it, and I thought, "Oh, this is all fine and good and if it works for you, I'm happy for you, but it's not for me". For me, the real meaning behind and within the rituals was obvious, and I could no longer put any stock in the rituals, or participate in them, without feeling slightly foolish. I mean, it's OKAY, there's nothing wrong with any of it, but I can commune with Christ without the bread and grape juice (or wine, if I happened to attend the right kind of church ). I can go directly to God, without any club members to help me. God is ever-present, always, for me. In fact, I am One with God; God is ME, and therefore, I am God (though with a much more limited viewpoint, obviously ).

Which, of course, is part of what Jesus was teaching. That you don't need a priest as a go-between, that you don't need to be religious, and that the religious are often the biggest hypocrites of all, and that they're mostly the blind leading the blind. I so totally get that now. Which is why I'm still interested in Jesus. He knew what he was talking about.

[IA56]

Yes...nodds in agreement....

[Sinera]

I read this article "Waking Up Hurts" and was reminded of this thread, especially by its last paragraphs. This website actually is more of a sometimes dubious conspiracy type but with occasional good articles, also on spirituality. It's actually been linked from the David Icke site which I am reading stuff on sometimes.

I find his writing very 'inspirational' (despite his strange options for capitalization of words) and what he says about Jesus in the end strikes a chord for me:

The world is based on the ego lie of separation which necessitates salvation schemes and atonement rituals which Jesus routinely condemned in public. They strung him up as quickly as possible and crucified him as a dangerous heretic. Later, he became the poster boy for blood sacrifice. This is an example of how the Truth is weaponized. Jesus had great credibility among the people, he was intensely loved, he was the greatest mouthpiece the Pharisees and Rome could ever hope for, so he became the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”. In this way, the ego lie was kept in place and Jesus was used like a nail in that coffin. The ego lie is the most fundamental premise of the world, which is why we have scientific materialism, the idea that consciousness comes from the brain, and religious superstition which imagines parental deities who must be placated and obeyed, a clearly childish context. An adult context would be heart felt love communion with That, not mommy-daddy appeasement rituals.
- Robert Cinque

[ButterflyWoman]

Wow, that's a good article. A lot of the things the author says are the same things I've said, and, yes, this is ego-based, but the fact that the author writes things I might write, and clearly knows what it is to be in that state of awakening makes me feel like less of a freak (told you it was egoistic, but there it is). So glad you shared the link. Thank you.