the failure to understand
Jim October 17th, 2008
an Atheist friend of mine pointed me in the direction of a few Atheist blogs. it’s often the case that a “Christian” will feel the need to leave a comment on these blogs in an effort to defend God and Christianity or evangelize the Atheist. to be completely honest, reading some of these comments was scary, and i could understand why an Atheist would conclude that religious people are seriously lacking in the intelligence department.
i’m on several email lists, and i often receive emails that are intended to represent the “Christian” response or view to various current events or issues. lately such emails have been about the presidential campaign. it’s hard to string together nice-sounding words to describe the stupidity of some of these emails. i realize the word “stupidity” sounds harsh and judgmental but the word “idiotic” seemed worse.
i realize that the above mentioned blog comments and emails are not representative of all Christians, and admittedly there was a time in my life when i was one of those writing such comments and emails. in hind sight, i can plainly see that back then if i had simply applied common sense, or considered the voice of reason, or truly listened to the witness of truth within myself, or examined things with more of a critical eye, or took the time to press deeper and investigate expressed opinions and views of others more thoroughly, then i would have spared myself from a lot of the insanity i found myself in.
lately i’ve noticed several instances where Christian people seem to lack understanding. here are a few quick examples:
1. the inability to hold a differing political view or perspective from another person without demonizing the other person by either mischaracterizing their view, or attacking them personally in terms of their character, motives, faith, etc. for some reason is still hasn’t sunk in for many Christians that people of faith are on both sides of every issue and political view. there is no political litmus test that defines a Christian.
2. a grossly inadequate and inaccurate understanding of other religions or worldviews, and a failure to appreciate the objections these religions and worldviews may have with the Christian’s understanding of God and the world. too often i see that people buy into the unfair, simplistic, and convenient stereotypes, rather than truly seeking to understand.
3. a failure to understand the importance of the separation of church and state OR a failure to appreciate others for whom the separation of church and state is extremely important. the examples in the world we have where church and state are not separated show us that this leads to tyranny and oppression. many people believe that “absolute power corrupts absolutely” and that the result would be no different even if it was Christianity as our state religion.
4. an inability to recognize what appears as a double-standard in the eyes of others. Christians often accuse other religions of promoting hate and violence. meanwhile, in the Christian’s Bible the Old Testament tells stories where military campaigns against pagan peoples are justified in the name of God. a more recent historical example would be the crusades. of course a Christian is going to say in this case it was okay because they were following the one true God, but can you see why this appears as a double-standard to other religions who equally think they are right about their God? it can come off as, “hate and violence is okay as long as i’m the one doing it. if you’re doing it you are evil. if i’m doing it i am righteous.”
so, what causes all of the above and how does one change? probably the best i have to offer is to reflect upon how it has seemed to happen with me.
the more i have listened to and followed the ‘real’ within me, the more i process all of life differently. when i wasn’t listening to and following the ‘real’ within me, i was listening to and following the ‘ego’ me. the ‘ego’ me was bent on creating, extending, perpetuating, defending, and protecting a human identity. the system by which the ‘ego’ does this is a system of winners and losers, right people and wrong people, us and them, allies and enemies, etc. while playing that game, my energies were solely focused on my ego agenda, which led to my doing all the above four things i mentioned. other people, other ideas, other views were all threats, and were rejected, attacked, or dismissed accordingly. i was always right and good, which meant others were always wrong and evil. many people of all worldviews function out of this ego-agenda, which is why there is no secret as to why there is so much hatred, division, and violence in our world.
here’s what i’m finding as time goes on:
1. as i become more in tune with what’s real, i seem to approach more of life from a state of peace. what i mean is, my need to find identity on a human/ego level has died off considerably, and i realize that nothing on that level poses a threat to what is real for me. no person or view poses a threat, and there is nothing for me to truly gain or lose in my interactions with others whoever they are or whatever they believe. i am peace within myself, and i find that i can approach the world without that frantic internal mess of self-focus. this allows me to not just hear what the other person is saying but a genuine openness to understand why they are saying it. i am finding it extremely helpful in moving beyond a stated view or opinion, and seeking to understand the process that led to the formation of that view or opinion.
2. as i am more aware of the ‘real’ within me, i find myself seeking to relate more to the ‘real’ within others. the ‘real’ within all people (i.e. “image of God”) produces the same desires. every person desires love, peace, freedom, compassion, well-being, contentment, and harmony. the ‘real’ within all people desires this for themselves and all people. when i relate to a person out of those spiritual attributes of the ‘real,’ i often find that it connects with the ‘real’ within them, and opens the door for meaningful connection and a desire for a common reality of goodness. relating to others back and forth on the ego/self level creates gridlock, but when i choose to relate to the ‘real’ within others, i find that “kingdom” realities are stirred and manifested.
3. day by day i seek to live out the ‘real’ in the context of my human circumstances. for example, yesterday i voted in the presidential campaign (early voting in Nashville). while standing in line, i struck up a conversation with the guy in front of me. as it turns out, he planned to vote for a different candidate then myself. i asked about what influenced his decision and learned quite a bit about him in the process. i agreed with him on many instances and i could see we both had similar desires on what the outcome of the election might ultimately produce but i had my own reasons for voting for a different candidate. i felt like we connected on a deeper level, and that making that deeper connection truly mattered.
a final word about this very long post. i’m not trying to convince you to look at or approach things like i do. heck, six months from now my view of some things may change itself. any blog post is like a camera snapshot, capturing a moment in time. each day is an experiment in living out what’s real in the context of everyday life. i’m not saying my way should be your way. i don’t mean to unfairly come down hard on Christians. i’m sure people of all beliefs and views do the same. since my world, directly and indirectly, involves a lot of people who identify themselves as “Christians,” this is a group that often supplies examples. anything i may pin on others is likely something i did myself, and so i am only pointing the finger at myself.
anyway, thank goodness the Red Sox squeaked one out 
(photo by zoo gal)
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amen
sorry i hit the submit too soon… i felt your post was spot on. i don’t understand why God would give us this incredible organ called the brain if He did not want us to think for ourselves and not just be hearded around like cattle. a recent comment here led me to feel why we have such a hard time with people understanding and wanting to know more about christianity or at least God in general. it is due to closed mindedness and that does not build bridges, it builds walls.
your sox are on the ropes… kinda closed minded of me…
btw – i meant to spell it herding not hearding.
Relating with others, with myself, with the world in light of Reality. I get that.
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I never get all the ego talk.
You wrote: “i am peace within myself…”
I read: “I am at peace with my ego.”
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Case closed. I embrace myself and my ego, and its power fades. Anyway, we probably have different ways of thinking to the same conclusion.
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Back to relating in Reality: Love is Reality. When I see it that way, I can relate with anyone as they are (but stupidity is admittedly distracting, theirs and sometimes mine).
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I really enjoy those times when I don’t react but just listen and observe well. I learn so much — not only about the person I’m hearing (or seeing) but about myself. I think I’m doing that more and more. I wonder how much is a function of aging…
Thanks Jim, this is a much needed message. especially timely after deleting my umpteenth “obama is the antichrist” urban legend from a homeschool yahoo group…sigh
Andy Said
“Anyway, we probably have different ways of thinking to the same conclusion.”
True …
Jim,
In honor of this great post and many more, I send quotes from Henry D. Thoreau as a gift back to you:
“Through our own recovered innocence we discern the innocence of our neighbors.”
and
“If you speak what you will never hear, if you write what you will never read, you have done a rare thing.”
You and the rest of us certainly do speak and write rare things–things I think will change the world without us intending to do so.
amy, sounds like you’ve gotten some of the same emails. let’s just take the obama issue as an example. there are some Christians saying he is the antichrist, and yet it was a Christian that sent me a link to this site: http://www.matthew25.org/
the point is (IMHO) related to the presidential campaign that if you vote for mccain that doesn’t make obama the antichrist, and if you vote for obama that doesn’t make mccain the antichrist. no disrespect meant by not including nader and the other candidates.
Well, well Jim! I’ve read a lot of your stuff over the last couple of years or so and I have to say that this is some of the best yet! I daresay you have probably been thinking like this for a while but seeing you put it onto paper in such a natural and reasonably forthright way makes my heart leap. As with Jane I can see that Mr. Elijah has been paying you a visit too! He’s the one who identifies the two “Gods” (mindsets) for us. One, who is just a joke, where the main emphasis is on manipulating the physical world, while the other is that deep unifying “realness” that is within us that shows how foolish we are and where our priorities have become so screwed up. And that is where we begin!
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You are getting to where I started! I didn’t have to struggle from out of what you people have had to tolerate. It’s been easy for me. I was a bit like that atheist you talk about except I “knew” there was something somewhere but it certainly wasn’t that Christian God! He was a complete lying nut case and a very cruel one at that. Once I’d figured out that no matter what we did we would never be able to straighten out our physical world I gave up on that and this led me into discovering that what I was looking for was somehow within me. When I saw all this explained and confirmed in the Bible (using the “metanoia” translation) this gave me the confidence to keep on proceeding.
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Now I am going to make a statement and some of you may be ready to understand – some may find it a little heavy but hopefully you’ll get over it and you’ll see it when you are ready. I have vent my spleen a few times in frustration as I saw this continual cycle going on where you folk just kept drifting around in circles – in the “wilderness”. Christianity has been doing this for 2,000 years. In fact the disciples suffered the same problem when following that man from Galilee, which is what you have been doing. “Galilee” means, the “turning circle” or “circuit”. Anyway by the time they had got to the “upper room and the last supper” (where we are about to enter) they were still asking Jesus to show them the Father! I can imagine JC’s response, “#@$%&FFF!!! Dumb -ass’s! Have I been with you so long and you still haven’t seen? I think I know how he felt.
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We can’t see this distinct “separation” from the religious “God” thinking attitude with our natural minds so that’s why he said Mr. Elijah would have to visit us first. This “Elijah” is just a particular manifestation of the spirit – it reveals and puts us in touch with our deeper feelings – but it is still only the start. Don’t forget that! Anyway what I was going to say is this. I’ve said before, and some of you may already see, we are called to birth that “baby” messiah who will grow up, through us, to truly save the world, so why hasn’t it happened before with all those “spiritual” experts and so called saints from the past? We’ve had this problem for the last 2,000 years haven’t we? Here’s why.
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THE LIVING “JESUS” PRESENCE CANNOT EVOLVE OUT OF OUR TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS/CHRISTIAN/ SECULAR/WORLDLY ACADEMIC BELIEF SYSTEM MINDSET – IT IS IMPOSSIBLE! IT WOULD BE A MOCKERY – AN AFFRONT TO REAL THINKING! We cannot put the real Jesus together out of that second-hand “deceived” mind thinking debris. His full “presence” can’t come out of all that junk. That’s why we have kept going around in circles and are not able to go anywhere. WE HAVE TO START WITH A CLEAN SLATE and Jim and Jane are beginning to demonstrate that common sense “realness”. And I guess there are others out there too. So no more quoting and idolizing and taking on board other religious/worldly stuff and praising each other and reading all those thousands and thousands of books that can never take us there. You’ve got it all within you – praise that and give glory to the wonder of that unifying spirit, WHICH IS WITHIN ALL PEOPLE!
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So there you go! That explains why Christians can never get it. Instead of being ahead, like most of them think, they are behind. “The first shall be last and the last first!” They have been blocking “the way”. But don’t go beating yourself over this because when you start getting it you shoot way ahead. Remember the prodigal son story? That’s you! You can stop squandering your inheritance now and go home
.
Jim says, “as i am more aware of the ‘real’ within me, i find myself seeking to relate more to the ‘real’ within others. the ‘real’ within all people (i.e. “image of God”) produces the same desires. every person desires love, peace, freedom, compassion, well-being, contentment, and harmony.”
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There’s the source or “seed”. That’s the Father of the messiah = “David” = love, or beloved. Now where is the mother? There is a little glimmer of it here from Jim, “…and i find that i can approach the world without that frantic internal mess of self-focus.” He is beginning to remove himself from the stupidity of the world. That’s the “Mary” – rebelling against current thinking – becoming much more realistic about the futility of the world that we have built for ourselves. It won’t make a scrap of difference who becomes your next president. The physical doesn’t count. It’s not our problem. Vote by all means if you feel like it but who cares? That cannot save the world, or even the US. The only thing that can do that is that seed within you if we can it fertilized and birthed and standing on it’s feet. So no more “shedding religion” circuits Jim, and praising man’s achievments – it’s making me giddy! The next book of yours should be titled, “Shedding God To Find The Real”. The story of metanoia repentance!
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There’s is another thing to add to that David/Mary spirit mindset, and that is Mary (our psyche or soul) is “betrothed” to “Joseph”, which means to add, increase, enlarge. That is to expand the revelation and this is what Jane now needs to help her along. Jane I can appreciate your ups and downs and flip flopping. Your honest writing at the end of Jim’s thread, “That’s just the way it is” is very moving and “real”. You are doing so well. But we all need assurances and that is where the spirit of “Joseph” comes in. He translates the Scripture for you – the metanoia way – and when you see it unraveling in that way and confirming what you already truly feel it makes you so much bolder. What it does is help to reassure your mind, who has been so busy trying to protect and look after you, that it is then able to give over more and allow that deeper eternal “feeling” world within you to come to the fore. As Jim admits, where he says he now finds there is more peace. So your mind relaxes its responsibility over you and snuggles into that “you know who?” who is now taking over and caring for you. That is the purpose of Scripture – to give confidence to our minds and subdue all the lies that it has been subjected to. That’s all – not to make a huge condemning great religion and then to beat everyone, and ourselves, over the head with it!
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So Jane if you feel like it write to Jim (“Contact Jim” in the bar at the top of his Blog page) and ask him whether he’d mind giving you my email address and I‘ll try and give you a few pointers. After this lot he’ll be glad to do that and probably tell you to get me out of his hair! I can also put you on to one or two others that you could probably relate to. In parting think of this. Do you remember where that little baby is born? It’s Bethlehem Ephrathah, “an ever increasing fruitful family or house that brings forth food, especially bread, that prevails and overcomes”. Keep prevailing you people! We are getting very close.
Oh Jim, you got it right. I know that a large part of my turning away from Christianity has to do with returning to a job working with Christians that are the saying things like you probably read in the emails you received. For example, this election season I have heard things that are so racist, so ignorant, so narrow-minded that I would not believe it if I was not hearing it first hand. A few people in my office are giving me the cold shoulder because there’s a rumor that I’m voting for Obama (its true). I am taking off the day of and the day after the election because no matter who wins I refuse to subject myself to the horrible things people will be saying. It literally makes me feel sick.
I also visit atheist sites and am embarrassed by the things some of the Christians write there. Its just sad.
P.S. Immediately after I read your post I went to the next blog on my list and saw this post:
http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2008/10/have-you-ever-seen-conservative.html
brian, you wrote…
“But we all need assurances and that is where the spirit of “Joseph” comes in. He translates the Scripture for you – the metanoia way – and when you see it unraveling in that way and confirming what you already truly feel it makes you so much bolder. What it does is help to reassure your mind, who has been so busy trying to protect and look after you, that it is then able to give over more and allow that deeper eternal “feeling” world within you to come to the fore. As Jim admits, where he says he now finds there is more peace. So your mind relaxes its responsibility over you and snuggles into that “you know who?” who is now taking over and caring for you. That is the purpose of Scripture – to give confidence to our minds and subdue all the lies that it has been subjected to. That’s all – not to make a huge condemning great religion and then to beat everyone, and ourselves, over the head with it!”
i can relate to your above description. here is how it went with me:
1. for many years, my interpretation of the Bible mainly reinforced the disease. i think what happened is that i absorbed a faulty God-framework (sky-God, separation, etc…) from all kinds of influences along the way in life, and then i simply imposed that framework on the Bible. so therefore the Bible only served to reinforce and harden the it further.
2. in my “shedding religion” phase, which included no more Bible and no more organized church, i essentially removed myself from exposure to these views. it took quite a while, but as i came out from under these influences and views, i knew it was important to begin thinking for myself…which also lead to simply being more in tune with myself…which eventually lead to discovering the ‘real’ within me on a much more significant level.
3. a very long time later when i returned to reading the Bible, i began seeing very different things in it. i was now reading it from (what you referred to as) a “metanoia way.” in terms of thinking for myself, i began exploring a lot of different views/expressions of Christianity, and was surprised to find that all through history people have understood/interpreted the Bible in similar ways as i was now understanding it. up until then i sometimes wondered if perhaps i had just come up with some whacked out Jim-version of the Bible. all of these things served as assurances, and were helpful at the time as i was gaining more confidence in myself.
4. admittedly, you have some interpretations of the Bible that may be a bit of a stretch for me at the point where i am right now, but i find in the Bible a lot of reinforcement and assurances for the metanoia way, particularly in Jesus.
5. i’d also have to say that i am not dependent on the Bible in terms of how i once was. i’d say mainly because i don’t think of truth as something existing outside myself like written texts or creeds. i view the “truth” as something knit into the fabric of my being, and the Bible stimulates an awareness of that truth, and presses me to be the “truth” in its full array. on the other hand, i’d be disingenuous if i didn’t say that i give the Bible more attention and preference than other books about God and spiritual things. this may be because i don’t feel like i adequately mined out the truth from the Bible the first time around. i think it is also because i continue to feel a deep connection with Jesus, and the Bible obviously contains writings about him.
6. there are a lot of people who object to the Bible, which i understand. the main reason seems to be that some people feel like the Bible condones fear, violence, war, hate, etc…this concern has not been as significant for me because i understand the Bible as telling the story of the evolution of people’s understanding of God, truth, the ‘real.’ we all know people (like me) often get it grossly wrong before they get it right. i think the Bible depicts this story. over the years i have rationalized a lot of things in the name of God, and i find that same dynamic as part of the story of the Bible and people finding their way to the truth. so, i don’t so much see the Bible as a rule book telling me what to do, as much as i see it as a story that i continuously find myself in. the rationalizations and flawed framework/motives/agenda/understanding/conditioning/etc that Biblical characters sometimes operated with are like my own. in that sense the Bible is mirroring the evolution of my own understanding of what’s ‘real.’ that also gives me reassurance.
Jim:
Interesting. I just bought one of your books in the middle of reading this blog.
I hope all is well.
BTW – What is the deal with no caps at the beginning of sentences? Is your shift key broken or is it too much effort to reach over and touch that one?
Paul
HI PAUL, IN YOUR HONOR I’M COMMENTING IN ALL CAPS
seriously, i don’t know why. maybe it’s because when i’m book-writing, i have to play by all the proper writing rules, and blogging is my writer’s rebellion.
Oh Jim, I thaught I would pointe out the tiepo in the 1st number won. I think it should be “it stil hasnt sunk in” knot “is.”
On a more serious note. I am a Libertarian that believes in total separation of church and state and personally believe since we can’t seem to get the “helping those who need help,” thing down, why not have a government do it for us. Oh and I am pro-life which is the reason I cannot be a republican, the death penalty isn’t really what I would call pro-life, same reason I’m not a democrat. I also believe in complete freedom and the ability of individuals to choose for themselves. I think they call that free will, but I might be wrong. Anyway, just thought I would stir the pot and try not to be what you describe above.
Jim,
Great post! I can relate to many of the revelations you’ve had along the way on your spiritual journey. Here are a few I’ve learned along the way:
- I am more frequently starting from a position of peace rather than making it my goal each day.
- My Heart is the holder of truth and leads me to the Father. My Heart also leads me to the most blessed connection with others, those who are open to it.
- No person or view/belief or political opinion of that person poses a threat to me and my connection to the Father/Source. ie. Something radical (for me, anyway) happened last week. My sister who’s very steeped in the IC with a narrow-minded, ultra right-wing Conservative mindset mailed me a packet full of right-wing political hate material against the candidate I’m going to vote for. She even wrote notes in the margins emphasizing everything against my candidate and where I’m wrong in voting for him. In years gone by, I would have stewed and fumed and retaliated by sending her back some literature of my own, or at least a tersely-worded letter shoving it back in her face. But this time, it had NO hold over me. Nada. Nothing…because ultimately it just doesn’t matter! I don’t say this to pat my ego on the back, but rather I realize that my center of truth now comes from within me and no person or view can post a threat to it. That’s a freedom I haven’t experienced before now.
- I’m understanding now that, for years, I was absorbed by a faulty framework about God. My exposure to the Bible was in a very narrow-minded, literal view. Now I’m beginning to re-read the Bible to mine more truths from it with a metanoia mindset and it’s exciting.
Brian, I am intrigued by your interpretations of Scripture and even though some of them are a stretch for me at this point, I’m open to conversing more about them…and any other insights that deepen the metanoia experience. And I agree with your earlier post that Jim’s next book should be ‘Shedding God to Find the Real; The Story of Metanoia Repentance’. Now there’s another book I’d buy, Jim….hint, hint.
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Hi Jim,
I love what you have written here about how intolerant “Christians” can be of others opinions, political beliefs, etc. And how they often do demonize people who disagree with them.
Also, your statements about the separation of church and state are right on! I have thought about this for almost 30 years-since I was involved with a “Word of Faith” church in the early 80’s. Basically they were teaching that the Christians were supposed to take over the government, elect all “Christian Fundamentalist” candidates, ban all “sinful” communications in the media, and on and on and on!
I said at the time to a particularly rigid adherent of those philosophies that freedom of the airwaves and of all types of communications was a protection for Christians as well as other types. It could very well be the “_____” (fill in the group) that was in control and banning all Christian communications.
Love your articles Jim. I do find the lack of capitalizing the pronouns a bit distracting though. Do you have a philosophical reason for this, or is it just typing convenience? Just curious!
God Bless!!