biblical teachings on religion and condemning others..

[ladyinred]

I've partially studied the Course in Miracles, and have studied the bible. To me the course is more consistent then the bible in it's teachings on love and doesn't contradict itself, but everything I found in the course is also found in the bible.. How does the Course explain condemnation.. It is the judgement of one mind of another as unworthy of love and therefore deserving of punnishment(Unforgiving) Let's examine biblical scripture to see if we can find similarities then... JAMES:4:11 -12 Don't speak evil of each other, my dear brothers and sisters.If you criticize each other and condemn each other, then you are criticizing God's law. But you are not a judge to decide whether the law is right or wrong. Your job is to
obey it..(Later we will get to God's law)
1 JOHN 3:18 Dear children let us stop saying , just saying we love one another.let us show it by our actions. It is by our actions we know we are living in the truth, so we can be confident in the Lord.Even if our heart condemns us , God is greater than our heart and know all things. Beloved if our heart does not condemn us then we have confidence toward God. And we will receive whatever we requests because we obey him and do things that please him...And this is His commandment to believe in the name of his son and love one another as he commanded us.(We obey God by loving one another, God's law of love) 1 JOHN 4;16. God is love and all who live in love ,live in God and God lives in them.And as we live in God our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but can face him with confidence because we are like Christ in this world.Such love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear(not some ,but all it says)If we are afraid, it is for fear of judgment, and this shows his love has not been perfected in us. WE love each other as a result of him loving us first..
James about religion 1:26 If you claim to be religious but don't control your tongue, you are just fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and lasting religion before God and the Father is this ,that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.I'd also like to say the Course says we are not to judge or condemn ourselves as well and these do correspond with the above scripture... if yo've read them carefully. Paul even quoted in scripture . conscience I say, why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience and speaks of the law of freedom, not subject to ancient laws or antiquated laws.

[ladyinred]

Here are some of the courses principles taken from the book, Choose once again.. and remember what Jesus said,I've come into the world not to condemn it but to save it...... Perhaps you think that different types of love are possible. Perhaps you think there is a kind of love for this, a kind for that,a way of loving one, another way of loving still another. Love is one.It has no separate parts and no degrees: no kinds or levels,no divergencies and no distinctions. It is like itself unchanged throughout. It never alters with a person or a cirumstance. It is the heart of God and also of his Son. Love cannot judge as it is one itself,it looks on all as one.It's meaning lies in oneness. And it must elude the mind that thinks of it as in partial or in part.There is no love but God's and all of love is His.There is no other principle that rules where love is not.Love is a law without an opposite.It's wholeness is the power holding everything as one, the link between the Father and the Son which holds them both forever as the same. Jesus in scripture prayed that his desciples be made perfect in One, just as he was in the Father and goes on to pray that they be made perfect in one as I am in you and you in me and I in them...that they mayest know that you have loved them as you have loved me... the problem with scripture is although I memorize them... sometimes I forget to bookmark them...LOL

Here is another..Father ,unless I judge, I cannot weep, nor can I suffer pain, or feel I am abandoned or unneeded in the world.This is my home because I judge it not and therefore is it only what you will, let me today behold it uncondemned through happy eyes forgiveness has released from all distortion.Let me see your world instead of mine.And all the tears I shed will be forgotten,for their source is gone, Father i will not judge your world today.. I might add that Paul wrote that the old system of belief which was rooted in condemnation ,speaking of Moses and the laws,was antiquated and that the Spirit excels in glory.. that even to this day in reading the old testament a veil lies on their hearts but that veil is taken away when one turns to the Lord, Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.. Another biblical scripture is the wisdom from above is first pure , peacable, willing to yield, fully of mercy, good fruits, without partiality and hypocrisy...(some words are omitted to shorten this..) in Colossians..3:14 And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love,love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony...Colossians3:11: In this life it does not matter whether you are jew or gentile,circumcised,or uncircumcised,barbaric,uncivilized,slave or free.Christ is all that matters and he lives in all of us. Christ lives in all of us without exception... there is no exclusion here...

[ladyinred]

why I wrote these postings is because some people get too involved in religion and may be affiliated with one saying they are condemned or going to hell.. really the bible is not about religion and Jesus did not teach it.. Where did he say you must follow religion or religious fundamentalism..: He doesn't. He said that those who worship God do so in spirit and truth. He did not say that to be spiritual you had to be religious. I am not saying all religion is bad, if it teaches sound doctrine or leads people to the truth.. or helps guide them . But regarding religous fundmentalism, it distorts the truth and teachings of Christ and leads people into despair and keeps them in bondage to fear, rather than helping them to grow as people and become more compassionate and loving.

[ladyinred]

My son who is ten lives here in a very conservative area, and I believe many of the people may be fundamentalist, he's been picking up the toxic crap these kids learn that you are damned , going to hell.. at school and now says he hates God... That is messing with a child's head.. Now I have to figure out how I'm going to straighten that out, he really does not want to discuss God at all and he wants nothing to do with God..exactly because of what he hears about God from other children.. It has infiltrated his mind and poisoned him spiritually.

[ladyinred]

My mother although not perfect. Never threatened me as a child with hellfire and damnation, and when I was aprroached by people who called themselves Christian who were teaching similar things, she threw a fit... I had gone to several churches with friends and she was not happy, she said all they teach is fear and try to scare people...she made it known she did not approve of it..and felt like that they might be harming me mentally and emotionally. (At the time though I thought she was loopy)She felt like God was a loving God although she was not particularly religious , and she was adamant against churches that taught that you were damned and going to hell. What did she say about homosexuality? She could not understand how people could not love their own children for being gay whether they approved of it or not..dump them out on the street or disown them. She had never said homosexuals are evil either.

[ladyinred]

I don't think I really learned about guilt about that from her, but kids are still impressionable and pick up things from what they hear at large from society and other influences like church... We tend to think as parents we are the sole influence over children, we are not... but sometimes when you have kids going to school interacting with other children as well , they are bound to pick up stuff form other adults and kids. And alot of times it isn't good .

[ladyinred]

I 've listened to this song so much, but I feel it states an essence of truth. It is called hands by Jewel... Lyrics by Jewel Kilcher
Music by Jewel Kilcher & Patrick Leonard


If I could tell the world just one thing
It would be that we're all OK
And not to worry 'cause worry is wasteful
And useless in times like these
I won't be made useless
I won't be idle with despair
I will gather myself around my faith
For light does the darkness most fear

My hands are small, I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken

Poverty stole your golden shoes
But it didn't steal your laughter
And heartache came to visit me
But I knew it wasn't ever after

We'll fight, not out of spite
For someone must stand up for what's right
'Cause where there's a man who has no voice
There ours shall go singing

My hands are small I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken

In the end only kindness matters
In the end only kindness matters

I will get down on my knees, and I will pray
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray

My hands are small I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken

My hands are small I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken
We are never broken

We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's mind
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's heart
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's eyes
We are God's hands
We are God's hands