I believe that the world is standing at the crossroads. Are we moving to a more united world where the problems of war, extreme poverty and disease are reduced or even eliminated? Or are we are moving towards a world divided by nationalism and racism resulting in war, economic disaster, deprivation and misery? Continue reading “Optimistic or Pessimistic future”
Category: Religion
Jesus breaks religious rules
As we live in an imperfect society we need some rules and laws to combat the worst forms of evil. Religion has its own sets of rules, but Jesus showed us that if we follow his way, love transcends rules. He was born into a Jewish society which had built up a complex set of rules to moderate and control how people lived their everyday lives. We will see in this article how Jesus broke many of the rules and traditions that religion imposed. Continue reading “Jesus breaks religious rules”
Faith: a window to God
Faith is like a window. We can think of a window in many ways. We could concentrate on the construction, the design, the curtains, the glass but fail to realise that the purpose of a window is to actually look out and enjoy the view. A window brings the outside in and exposes the inside to the outside.
Faith is a window which enables us to see God clearly and enables us to have a direct relationship with him. God can also see us clearly and yet because of his great love for us does not look upon our imperfections.
Religion, on the other hand, can prevent us from really seeing God. We argue about the window style, and say that unless our window conforms in construction or rituals it is inferior or even not a window at all. Religion puts obstacles in the way of seeing God. It makes rules and regulations and says that unless we conform we cannot know God. Continue reading “Faith: a window to God”
What is wrong with Religion?
When I was a child I attended Christian churches, which, although they preached the good news of the Gospel, nevertheless taught that we had to strive all of our lives to please God and conform to certain rules. So I was taught not to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, visit the cinema or to dance. We had turned Jesus into a religion.
Now we can drink as long as we don’t get drunk, and we can even dance in church. However there is still a risk of encouraging religion by expecting people to conform to our standards and rules.
For two thousand years, we have turned the good news into a religion. The process started with the early church when some were told they needed to be circumcised to really be saved. Others were told that they mustn’t eat meat which had been used as an offering to other religions. Others were side-lined into worshipping angels. Some tried to reconcile the Old Testament law with their new-found faith. Continue reading “What is wrong with Religion?”
Compassion and Justice 