More on this book
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
July 10 - August 15, 2022
using the teachings of Jesus
himself.
St. Paul, the earliest writer of the New Testament, scarcely ever refers to the life of Jesus and never cites anything Jesus ever said or taught. The Christian Creed, a product of the fourth century church, says nothing whatsoever about the teachings of Jesus. Historically, Christianity has been a religion about Jesus rather than about what Jesus actually taught.
He fully realized and manifested his oneness with God and calls us to do the same.
We are not doing that if we are gossiping, criticizing and belittling any and everyone who doesn’t think the way we think.
The church is people just like you and me. We are the clumsy, brilliant, messy, loving, ego-centered, glorious, awful, liberating, oppressive, interesting, boring, caring, and nervous people who go to church. That makes the church like Noah’s Ark. The only reason you can stand the mess inside is that it’s better than drowning on the outside. The next time you are in church, look around. Everyone there has just finished facing a struggle, is in the middle of one, or is just about to meet one! In all of our glory and dribbling fear, the church still manages to give us traveling companions in the
...more
What if it is actually possible to hear the continuing voice of the Spirit as Jesus promised?1
Maybe ACIM?
Mystics are people who experience God.
Conventional Christianity has room for growth but is often preoccupied with position rather than progress.
The world’s problem is not global warming, terrorism, hunger, or disease. The world’s problem is that we don’t have enough people at the worldcentric level to solve our worldcentric problems.
Moving from “some people” to “all people” is a movement toward Jesus’ model of compassion.
Jesus asked us to have this kind of awareness when he said, “by their fruits you shall know them.”
We may not even be able to become more compassionate without first becoming more angry—angry enough to reject parts of previous belief systems that no longer appear truthful or loving to us.
there are only a few kinds of ultraconservative churches whose dominant center is tribal.
I think there are many.
The major concern of the spiritual life at this stage is reward and punishment from God. Righteous actions are rewarded now and unrighteous behavior is punished with sickness, calamities, and, ultimately, eternal hell if one has not repented and trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.
At the modern level the phrase “in Jesus’ name” can be a meaningful reminder to pray in the character and spirit of Jesus. At the tribal level, this phrase may appear to be a magical incantation that assures maximum impact of the prayer.
Sin is whatever is not pleasing to God, who can be pleased or displeased, depending on the situation.
Son is whatever this or that church says it is.
The magical level confuses the symbol with what it represents.
One does not need to toss out the authentic mystical consciousness of the tribal stage in order to transcend its fearful elements.
believing that the world of truly spiritual people is limited to those who think exactly as you do presents a very small world in today’s global village.
If we are to develop spiritually, it is imperative to have a network or small group of friends on the same journey.
Connecting to a network of others seeking God consciousness is crucial to our spiritual growth.
The military cannot by itself protect us from terrorism. It ultimately must involve political, social, and, above all, spiritual solutions that invite the world to grow beyond warrior consciousness.
aggressive unethical corporations,
An estimated 20 percent of the world population is at the warrior stage.
It was warrior consciousness that killed Jesus. That
Today the warrior level church is commonly referred to as a fundamentalist church.
In addition to these doctrines, the word “fundamentalism” also refers to a mindset which warns others who do not agree with them of the danger of their wrong beliefs.
the Bible is often used as a weapon.
the spiritual life is fear-based and this is considered a good thing, as in, “The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.”
In order to bring the Kingdom of Heaven down to earth as much as possible, these “Christian warriors” wage war against sin, immorality, abortion, the theory of evolution, other
religions, and, in general, all who differ from their beliefs.
God is male and only men should be in charge at home and at church.
The limitation of the warrior church is its fighting mentality. This leads to always being at war with something or someone, and believing that only you and your group has the truth.
rooted in profound fear.”
The strength and dignity of this worldview is fervor—the
Jesus was passionate about God and God’s will. We can be, too.
It is truly difficult to take Jesus’ life and teaching seriously and end up embracing the less-than-Christ-like parts of today’s ultraconservative Christianity.
The idea is to resist any group’s attempt to force their views upon others through social harassment or force while upholding their right
The challenge for the growing Christian is learning to not get angry about people who get angry. It is how to avoid having a warrior consciousness about warrior consciousness. The challenge is to be passionate without persecuting, protective without punishing, and vehement without violence.
We can cultivate, support, and encourage the more Christ-like levels while respecting those persons and groups who do not share our values.
Those at this stage tend not to question their traditional mode of thinking. It must be true if it is in the Bible or their group says that it is true.
Their beliefs are not arrived at by reason and therefore are not susceptible to change by arguments using reason.
The right values are what an outside authority such as church, the Bible, country, or political group, considers to be right.
An estimated 40–55 percent of the world’s population is at the altitude of traditional consciousness.
For the traditional church, the most important teaching of the Bible is that Jesus died for our sins.
The death of Jesus satisfies God’s wrath.
the traditional church tends to focus more on Paul’s idea of salvation than on Jesus’
understanding of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Why did Jesus attack the family of his day so passionately? He
He knew that the strongly patriarchal family would resist treating women as equals to men and church history testifies to that very thing.
