Today’s Christianity: Vastly Void of Truth

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Lee — 39 Comments

Here is a comment that a reader named Kyle left recently in response to the most popular post on this blog: “If there’s One God, Why All the Different Religions?”

Walking in Darkness, by Linda Hedenljung

Lee, I found your article tickled the ears of culture but was vastly void of truth. By Jesus saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. Nobody comes to the Father except through me”… he’s making an absolute truth statement. Therefore anything that contradicts his statement is by definition false. There is one God. One Lord. One Savior by which man is saved. No other religion can save its followers, forgive sins, and offer hope for today and eternity. Our culture will scream, “Offensive! How dare Christians claim Jesus is the only way to God.” But Jesus himself said it. For Christians not to profess this truth is to not trust in Jesus at all. Therefore, not all religions are true or lead to God. In fact, any religion that is contrary to the claims of Jesus (his words, not mine) is false. Forget religions. It’s who you say Jesus is that matters. Living a “good and kind life” can make things pleasant for today but that does nothing for your eternal standing once our time on earth is done. I would think satan is quite pleased we have more religions than we can count.

Later that day, Kyle submitted this Spiritual Conundrum to Spiritual Insights for Everyday Life:

Lee,

I’m confused, and it’s actually from reading your posts and responses to people. You said you’re a christian and actually believe that salvation and heaven are only possible through Jesus Christ. Yet, you also say that every religion is right in its own way and leads people to the same God. Isn’t that completely hypocritical of your own faith? How in the world are all religions right and serving the same God?

Kyle

That got me to thinking.

Yes, Kyle and hundreds of millions of other Christians are confused.

They’re confused because their preachers have drilled into their heads a false “Christianity” that is so vastly void of truth that they can’t even read and understand the Bible’s own plain words about who is saved, and how.

(Photo credit: Linda Hedenljung)

For more on a “Christianity” void of truth, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: Christianity, faith, faith alone, fundamentalism, God, heaven, Jesus Christ, religion, salvation, sola fide, the Bible, works
Posted in The Bible Re-Viewed

Serving the Neighbor: Simple yet Profound

Posted on September 19, 2016 by Lee — 6 Comments

Here at Spiritual Insights for Everyday Life we are constantly preaching about serving the neighbor. But what does that mean? It means many things. But it also means serving someone when you least expect it.

Here’s an example that recently went viral: Photo of a Shoe Salesman Helping a Boy With Autism Is Going Viral For All the Right Reasons.

Here’s the story that goes with the photo, as told by the boy’s parents:

River Salter getting shoes

Last week we brought our 6-year-old son, River, to the Clarks Village outlet store in Street to be measured for school shoes. Being autistic, he really struggles with crowds, long queues and noisy places. The store was heaving! I knew there was no way he would cope with that environment so I explained the situation to a member of staff. Without hesitation, Aaran led us away from the noise and crowds to a staff room and placed a Do Not Disturb sign on the door. He was very patient with River, who was anxious, and went and got lots of different shoes for him to try on. We left with a great pair of shoes, a very happy boy—and Aaran also gave us the store number and said they’d happily book us an appointment before the store opens so that it’s quiet. Autism acceptance at its best! Thank you Clarks in Street, and a massive thanks to the shop assistant Aaran Daniels.

Mr. Daniels probably didn’t go to work that day thinking he would make a difference in the life of an autistic boy and his parents. But when the situation presented itself, he acted with thoughtfulness and with heart. And that did make a difference.

It was a simple act; yet it made a profound difference to the people he helped.

For more on serving the neighbor, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: Aaran Daniels, autism, Gem Salter, love, neighbor, random acts of kindness, River Salter, service, spirituality
Posted in Current Events, Spiritual Growth

Pain, Punishment, Prison, and Hell

Posted on September 9, 2016 by Lee — 90 Comments

In the course of a discussion on the recent article, “How Imagination and Fantasy Help our Spiritual Growth,” a reader named Frankly Frank said:

“And hell is not a punishment”…….

I dunno about that one, Lee.

There are vivid accounts from Swedenborg where in one example he describes IIRC two angels holding a hell detainee off the ground by the head and feet and then “twirling” them back and forth repeatedly in opposite directions so that their spine felt like it was being torn apart. Yeah, I think that could be called “punishment” but if it isn’t I’d hate to see what qualifies. (lol?).

I don’t see how a spade here isn’t a spade. And I don’t see how one honestly could interpret that it’s actually God’s love and not punishment in that particular scenario as an easy way out to explain it either. Bottomline hell is inherently a PRISON. Aren’t prisons defacto punishment?

Frankly Frank was responding to something I had said in an earlier comment. You can read the whole comment thread starting here.

“El Chapo” inside the Altiplano maximum security prison

Yes, hell is a type of prison. And yes, there are punishments in hell.

But as I had said in previous comments, the main purpose of hell is not to punish evildoers, but rather to provide them with a place where they can live in the way that they want to live—or at least, as much as that’s possible given the self-defeating nature of their desires and actions.

This post is an edited and expanded version of my own long comment in response to Frankly Frank’s statement and question above.

TL;DR: Even if prison is a punishment, and even if there are punishments in hell, both prison and hell are more about protecting the innocent from being victimized than they are about punishing criminals. There’s no other way to effectively accomplish this, because hardened criminals are going to victimize innocent people if they are allowed access to them. And yet, pragmatically speaking, prison and hell really are the choice of those who go there.

Now let’s look at all that twisting, twirling, pain, and punishment.

For more on prison and hell, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: crime, Emanuel Swedenborg, evil, hardened criminals, hell, justice, pain, prison, punishment, recidivism, sin, the spiritual world
Posted in The Afterlife

Should Christians Tithe?

Posted on September 5, 2016 by Lee — 23 Comments

Over the past couple of years four readers have submitted Spiritual Conundrums to Spiritual Insights for Everyday Life about tithing. First, a reader named Lisa:

The tithe

Lee: I belonged to a Christian church for thirty years which was fundamentalist. My husband paid to the church the tithe of our income and he also contributed with other expenses. My husband wanted a new life and we went to live to another country. Now we are very happy. I found Swedenborg by accident on Internet and we are reading his books. We don’t go to any congregation, but we practice our faith in family. The minister of my old congregation sent us mails asking for the tithe, according to him we are heavily in debt. For several years we have saved the tithe for sharing with the neighbor. My question is, what does the Bible say in the New Testament about the tithe? Is it true that it belongs to the minister? Is there any chance that Swedenborg answered this question in his letters? Thanks for your opinion.

Then a reader named Ada:

Do u have to pay tithes?

Then a reader named Allison Scott:

What does Jesus really teach about tithing and/or giving?

And most recently a reader named Bamboo:

Hi Lee. I have been wondering a lot about tithing and church offerings. Does Malachi 3:10 suggest that the people who do not tithe will not be blessed? And do tithes and offerings have to be in monetary terms? Thanks.

Here’s the short version:

A “tithe” means a tenth. In Bible times, this meant a tenth of the harvest and of people’s flocks and herds—or of the firstborn animals of their flocks and herds.

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were commanded to bring tithes and offerings to the priests at the temple each year. Tithing was mandatory, not optional.

The New Testament mentions tithing only in passing. There is no clear commandment in the New Testament saying that Christians must tithe. And 2 Corinthians 9:5–7 suggests that for Christians, giving is not mandatory, but voluntary:

So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given. Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

In other words, Christians are not required to tithe, but are encouraged to give generously as their heart moves them to give.

And Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) doesn’t say anything at all about literal, in-kind or monetary tithing. But he does explain the spiritual meaning of tithing.

Let’s take a closer look.

For more on tithing, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: charitable giving, charity, Christianity, Emanuel Swedenborg, money, spiritual meaning, spirituality, Swedenborg, the Bible, tithes, tithing
Posted in Money and Business, The Bible Re-Viewed

How Imagination and Fantasy Help our Spiritual Growth

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Lee — 64 Comments

This post is an edited version of part of a reply I wrote to a comment by a reader named Boluwade Kujero on the article, “Is Masturbation Always Sinful? Does it Always Come from Lust?” My full comment responds to a few more of Mr. Kujero’s points, and applies the ideas presented here specifically to the issue of fantasizing while masturbating.

In this material world we are often hindered from acting on our goals and intentions by many external circumstances. We can therefore fool ourselves into thinking that we are morally clean when in fact it is only social pressures or practical concerns that keep us from acting in very immoral ways.

But according to Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772), after we die, when we are living in the spiritual world, those social bonds and external hindrances are gradually taken away. When this happens, unlike in the material world, whatever we think and intend, that is exactly what we say and do. If we think something, we just go ahead and say it. If we want to do something, we just go ahead and do it.

For more on imagination, fantasy, and spiritual growth, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: coveting, fantasy, imagination, lust, religion, sin, spiritual growth, spiritual rebirth, spirituality
Posted in Spiritual Growth

Does God Change?

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Lee — 61 Comments

In a recent comment, a reader named Rami brought up the issue of God’s unchanging nature vs. God—and God’s relationship to us—changing through time. This post is a slightly edited version of my reply.

This begins to push the limits of what we humans can comprehend.

While we are living here on earth in our physical body, our mind is largely engaged in time and space, and we think in temporal and spatial terms. Even when we are able to lift our mind above the physical into the spiritual, it is still engaged in the spiritual analogs of time and space, which involve progression and development in our thoughts and feelings. We are never capable, either as humans on earth or as angels in heaven, of raising our mind to the divine level, which is God.

We are physical and spiritual beings. God is a divine being. So although we can see reflections and gain an approximation in our minds of the nature of God, we can never directly or fully experience and grasp what it is like to be God. We can never fully understand how God experiences things. We can only see reflections of it in our own physical and spiritual experiences.

I add this preface because I’m going to say some things that honestly, I don’t fully understand, nor can any of us fully understand, because they go beyond our ability to understand. They are at best reflections and approximations of how God experiences these things.

For more on God and change, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: Christianity, Emanuel Swedenborg, eternity, God, Jesus Christ, Space, Swedenborg, the Bible, time
Posted in All About God

What If I’m In Love with Someone I Can’t Have?

Posted on August 28, 2016 by Lee — 2 Comments

Here is a Spiritual Conundrum submitted to Spiritual Insights for Everyday Life by a reader named xXxMajaxXx:

Is it possible to fall in love in heaven with a person you never met? I know this sounds crazy, but I am a very spiritual and normal person, so please answer me. I am in love with a man who is dead. He was a famous man and he was happily married. His wife is still alive. I have been in love with him for 4 years and: no, it is not just admiring, I am in love with him and that makes me so happy and inspired, it even got me threw some hard times. He visits me in my dreams very often and gives me some life-changing messages that have helped me in real life. I have previously read here that two people who have never met can be happily in love in heaven. Do you think that one day the two of us can be happily in love in heaven, is it possible that he would choose me over his wife? I strongly believe that true love is more powerful than death, but do you think I can deserve his love in return one day? Will he be able to see how perfect the two of us would be up there and will I be able to earn his love, so that he will pick me over his wife in heaven? I know this may sound crazy, but I am a very intelligent person, yet very spiritual, idealistic and deep. The article of yours that I have mentioned has given me hope. Please answer me this, thank you. God bless you!

Thanks for your conundrum, xXxMajaxXx. I’m sure you’re not the only person in the predicament of being in love with someone unattainable in this life—someone you have not even met. And I’m sure you’re not alone in hoping against hope that maybe in the future life you can be together with that person.

For background, here is the article xXxMajaxXx is referring to: “Can you Fall in Love in Heaven if you Haven’t Found Someone on Earth?” And while we’re at it, here’s another related article: “If You’ve been Married More than Once, Which One will you be With in the Afterlife?”

And now I have good news, and I have bad news:

Based on what I wrote in those two articles, yes, it is possible that this could happen.
However, based on human reality, it is very unlikely that it actually will happen.

And yet, you can still look forward to a happy marriage in heaven with someone whom you love more than anyone else in the universe, and who feels the same way about you.

And maybe you can even find that person here on earth.

For more on unattainable, or maybe attainable, love, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: eternal marriage, heaven, lasting marriage, love, marriage, personal development, relationships, spiritual growth, spirituality
Posted in Sex Marriage Relationships

Ezekiel 18: God’s Message of Hope . . . If You Think there’s No Hope for You

Posted on August 19, 2016 by Lee — 24 Comments

Hope for the Hopeless, by Vana Howell

I want to talk to you about one of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible: Ezekiel 18.

If you think you’re a goner, destined for the eternal flames of hell, this is the chapter for you. Ezekiel 18 delivers the clear message that no matter where you came from and no matter what you’ve done, you can leave your past in the past, and move forward to a new life.

You’re not condemned because of what your parents did or didn’t do.
You’re not condemned because of what you yourself did in the past.
It’s the way you’re living now that counts.

You can’t change how your parents raised you.

You can’t change what you did in the past.

But you can change the way you are living now.

And that is Ezekiel 18’s message of hope for you.

For more on Ezekiel 18, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: children, Ezekiel 18, hope, hopelessness, justice, parents, punishment, salvation, sin, spiritual rebirth, spirituality, suffering
Posted in Spiritual Growth, The Bible Re-Viewed

Is Masturbation Always Sinful? Does it Always Come from Lust?

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Lee — 69 Comments

Not surprisingly, my article, “What does the Bible Say about Masturbation? Is Masturbation a Sin?” stirred up a certain amount of controversy. A reader’s comment on that article led to this follow-up article: “Can You Masturbate Without Lusting? What about Matthew 5:27-30?”

Recently a reader named Boluwade Kujero left a comment—or should I say, a guest editorial!—on the follow-up article. He took exception to my characterization of conservative Christianity’s stance on masturbation, and questioned various statements I made in the article and in its comments section. His comment is much too long to copy into this article. You can read it here.

To fully understand the current article and what it is responding to, I recommend that you read both earlier articles if you haven’t already, and then read Mr. Kujero’s comment.

Or just charge on ahead. Your call.

In response to his comment, this is the third installment in what has now become a series on masturbation.

Here are my main objections to conservative Christians’ usual position masturbation:

They have made a strict law against masturbation when there is no such law in the Bible, thus laying a heavy burden, hard to bear, on people’s shoulders (see Matthew 23:4).
They have made good and evil a matter of stark blacks and whites, overlooking or denying the shades of gray in between. They have tarred even mild wrongs with the same terribly black brush, causing unnecessary guilt and discouragement for many people.

In so doing, they have made the path toward salvation and spiritual life more burdensome and difficult—whereas Jesus Christ said:

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)

We humans are fantastically complex creatures. Conservative Christians have attempted to boil all that complexity down to simplistic formulas and non-Biblical teachings. Unfortunately, their human-made laws don’t work very well. In fact, they make life unnecessarily difficult for people who want to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and cast their heavy burdens at Jesus’ feet.

Their hard-line, non-Biblical stance against masturbation is a perfect example.

For more on masturbation, lust, and sin, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: adultery, Christianity, fundamentalism, love, lust, marriage, masturbation, religion, sex, sin
Posted in Sex Marriage Relationships

The Ten Commandments: Our Spiritual Inventory List

Posted on July 31, 2016 by Lee — 76 Comments

The Ten Commandments

These days the Ten Commandments may seem a bit . . . old. After all, they were delivered over three thousand years ago. Could a set of laws given in such archaic, semi-barbaric times still be relevant today?

The Ten Commandments are not unique. Variations of them have existed from ancient times in almost every culture on earth. These laws are the ancient Israelite version of a common thread that runs through all of the world’s religions.

If these laws are so obvious that everyone around the world knows them, why did God make such a big fuss about giving them from Mount Sinai with great miracles, lighting and thunder, and a huge, booming voice?

Here is the answer: God did it that way not only to get us to pay attention, but also to show that these are not merely human laws, but divine ones.

And since they are divine laws, there is more to them than meets the eye. According to Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772), within their plain meaning they have deeper meanings that touch on our inner, spiritual life.

As a code of behavior, the laws contained in the Ten Commandments are essential for the stability of any society.
At a deeper level, they cover every aspect of our ethical, moral, and spiritual life.

We can think of them as our spiritual inventory list.

For more on the Ten Commandments, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: Christianity, Emanuel Swedenborg, God, inventory, inventory list, religion, spiritual meaning, spirituality, the Bible, The Ten Commandments
Posted in Spiritual Growth, The Bible Re-Viewed

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