I think our world is getting better

[chris250]

I am a christian universalist. Christian universalists believe that all people are saved or will be saved through Jesus Christ.

 

Now having said all of that I'm very liberal when it comes to politics. I believe that we are living in the best times in human history. Compared to the dark ages when religious people would have burned me at the stake for preaching universal salvation through Jesus Christ we are living in much better times.

 

I believe humanity has been evolving and will continue to evolve. This generation is much better than how things used to be hundreds of years ago with slavery, racism, sexism, discrimination against gays and lesbians, low tolerance for different religious beliefs, etc.

 

So what is my point exactly? I hear many christian leaders preach doom and gloom about the future of humanity and how they believe things are going to get worse. I don't see how things can possibly get worse when they have been getting better for the last few hundred years.

 

I think things are going to get better. Especially here in the western world we are more accepting of diversity and pluralistic in our society. I believe gays should have the same rights to get married and adopt children as straight people.

 

The qualification for being able to adopt children should be based on how responsible and caring of a parent a person can be. It should have nothing to do with one's sexual orientation. Honor, integrity, trustworthiness, responsibility, reliability are more important factors to consider than someone's sexual orientation.

 

Many gay people are sweet and have a lot of love to offer children. Therefore they make good foster parents. I really don't see the harm in letting them adopt kids.

 

I'm glad that we finally have a black president in the white house. That has never happened in history. There has never been a female president or an atheist president. I'm hoping to see these things change in the future as well. I'm hoping to see a gay president in office someday.

 

I would have no problem voting for an atheist president. What matters is how well he will do as a politician regardless of his religious affiliation. I don't care if he's a hardcore satanist and worships satan in his prayer closet. That's none of my business. What is our business is how well this president is managing our economy and practical matters in our society.

 

I think as long as our government does not turn into a theocracy once again as it did when Constantine was emperor then our world will continue to get better. I do not want to see this country run by the 10 commandments or by another other religious laws whether in the bible or the koran or anything else.

 

America was never a christian nation. It was not a nation founded on the christian religion. It was founded on FREEDOM. The founding fathers believed it was self evident that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. Life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness.

 

The true gospel of grace & peace parallels with the US constitution. The gospel is a declaration that God has made all of us free and equal! You are totally free to follow your heart & take responsibility for your own life. You do not need a moral code to live by.

 

This gospel is totally different from the christian religion. The gospel is a revelation of the fact that God has made all of us righteous, holy, perfect.

 

The gospel does not demand that you convert to anyone's religious beliefs or morality or lifestyle. Atheists and satanists and agnostics are just as righteous in the eyes of God as christians are. Everyone is going to heaven.

 

As a society we are becoming less and less religious, which is a good thing. This is evidence that our society is getting better. Maybe someday everyone will just have a personal relationship with God without religion.

 

Did you know that religion was birthed when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil? They believed satan's lie that said "you need the knowledge of good & evil in order to be godly."

 

Adam and Eve were already godly because God made them that way from the beginning. God gave them everything they needed for life and godliness. They were free to follow their hearts. They didn't need the knowledge of good & evil.

 

What does religion tell us? that we are naked, unclean, need to live by a set of rules & regulations to be godly (like God)? This is a lie. Who told you that you were naked? God didn't.

 

The truth is everybody is clean, complete, & godly because God created all of us that way. You are perfect because God made you perfect. You don't need to improve upon that perfection.

 

So I am very optimistic about the future of humanity both in this world as well as in eternity as everyone will end up in eternal peace with God in heaven sometime or another.

[amaysngrace]

I hope you're right that we are headed towards spirituality rather than religion. Religion unites a few while it divides many.

[chris250]

I'm almost finished reading the book "the gospel of inclusion" by Carlton Pearson. I recommend it. You most likely won't find it in christian bookstores. You'll have to go to borders. You can look him up on you tube. He was interviewed by msnbc and 20/20 in summer of 2007.

 

Carlton Pearson was a former pentecostal preacher who lost his church because he came to the conclusion that everyone is going to be saved. He didn't break the law. He didn't cheat on his wife. He didn't do drugs. He lost nearly everything because he started preaching the gospel of inclusion= the belief that all are one with God & reconciled to Him.

 

This man used to preach hellfire & brimestone messages years ago and he was bold enough to come out in the open back in 2004 and say that he was all wrong. He re-investigated the ancient hebrew scriptures and came to the conclusion that the bible teaches the salvation of all humanity through Christ.

 

So you can go to you tube and type in "carlton pearson" in the search engine. You'll see "to hell and back" part 1 & 2 and many other videos.

[amaysngrace]

Chris this is where I have a problem. You are quoting one man's beliefs. Which makes you, in fact, brainwashed into someone else's thinking.

 

I have a problem with that because I believe we should all be able to think for ourselves, with the brain God gave us.

 

My relationship with God is personal. Therefore I don't want somebody else to tell me just how that relationship should be. I think each of us has the capacity to develop our own personal relationship with God as we see fit.

 

Religion is just a man's interpretation too.

[chris250]

Chris this is where I have a problem. You are quoting one man's beliefs. Which makes you, in fact, brainwashed into someone else's thinking.

 

I have a problem with that because I believe we should all be able to think for ourselves, with the brain God gave us.

 

My relationship with God is personal. Therefore I don't want somebody else to tell me just how that relationship should be. I think each of us has the capacity to develop our own personal relationship with God as we see fit.

 

Religion is just a man's interpretation too.

 

 

There are some beliefs out there that are harmful and corrosive to the mind and to society as a whole.

 

The belief in hell is one of them. I've seen the damage this belief system has done in my life as well as the lives of others.

 

My mind is still damaged from embracing it for so long. Books like the gospel of inclusion are helping to bring some healing to my mind.

 

Maybe you are at a place now where you don't need to read books and you don't need your mind to be healed. That's great. I understand that not everyone will see a benefit to reading this book but some will.

 

I don't say that I agree with 100% of what I've read in the book so far but about 75%-80% of what I've read I agree with.

 

He and others who embrace the gospel of inclusion only want to convince people what's right with them NOT what's wrong with them. If that is not freedom then I don't know what is.

 

You won't find anything in the book about instructions on how often to pray or any of that. There are no instructions about changing your lifestyle habits.

 

You won't find the author anywhere telling atheists to give up atheism or agnostics to give up their agnosticism or satanists to give up their satanist practices. Yes this book will encourage personal relationship with God alright. It's a relationship based on freedom.

 

The theme of the book is about how we are all equal and one with God. What's wrong with sharing that information? We wouldn't have to go around sharing this good news if everybody knew it already and if evangelical christianity was not going around trying to convince the world that God sees certain people as unclean and impure.

 

So if one's personal relationship with God perceives God as being angry at them when they make mistakes should we just leave that person alone? I don't think so. What if a person thinks their relationship with God should be developed by self mutilation? I'm not going to leave that person alone.

 

It's only a matter of time before they will go around judging others and trying to convince others that God is angry. The belief in an angry God is poisonous to the mind. I don't want others to experience the same emotional damage that I went through from the cult of "turn or burn christianity."

 

Our goal is not to try to convince people to give up any of their religious practices but only to convince them that God has made them righteous APART from their religious practices & APART from their faith. Feel free to continue the religious practices. Just understand that you are not more righteous than someone else who does not engage in those religious practices.

 

I can feel free to continue sharing the gospel as long as I understand that I'm not anymore righteous in God's eyes than someone else who does not believe in evangelizing. Freedom has to go both ways for it to be consistent.

 

By the way one's personal relationship with God may motivate them to go door to door sharing their faith. I would not do that but others have a right to do that just as I have a right not to listen and not open the door.

 

God has already developed a relationship with everyone. There is no development on our part. We just get to enjoy the relationship God has developed for us.

[quankanne]

there is a bit of faulty premise with your last statement, and it's not a theological one, but one of interpersonal relationships: If God enters into a relationship with us, or us with him, there *must* be development, otherwise, it's an unhealthy, unhappy state of existence. We see what happens in human relationships, in business relationships if one side fails to communicate and the other side thinks everything is hunky-dory ... those relationships are living, breathing entities that must be nurtured. Be it with God, be it with someone you love or someone you work with. Otherwise the relationship dies.

 

I do agree that God offers salvation to all, but not everyone claims it.

 

I do agree that those of us who love God and want to tell everyone about him need to do so in a way that doesn't scare the other person into believing and accepting (like hellfire and damnation preaching), but encourages them to check it out for themselves because they like what they see being modeled by His followers.

 

one of the nicest compliments that someone can give me is to tell me that even though they don't agree with me about my belief in God and Jesus and the rest of the Catholic gang, they admire my sense of faith. *That's* what I feel he's calling me to do, just be that nice, quiet voice who says, "come and see what He's got to offer," rather than go around asking, "Are you saved?" and irritating people, or worse, scaring them into "believing" ~ that's just damned cruel, and totally against the grain of what God is about.

 

as for the world getting to be a better place to live, yes in some senses, no in others: I think people are starting to let go of their fears about things they don't understand or like, but on the other hand, society is becoming too lax about upholding moral standards.