My Contention with Christianity

I like Jesus. I have been and am inspired by Jesus. As a young man when I came to my midlife crisis I was inspired by Jesus to seek a way out of my feelings of being trapped in a meaningless world. I realized I wanted what Jesus had. I did not know what that was at the time, I just knew that I wanted whatever it was that he had had.

I also knew from previous experience that I could not go to Christians for help in this regard. I say this because my experience of Christians and Christianity was perfectly reflected by Gandhi when he said, “I like your Christ but I don’t care for your Christians; for your Christians are so unlike their Christ.”

Here is the crux, Christians don’t follow Jesus’ way, truth or life, they follow the apostles, particularly Paul. In the bible Paul admits that when he started out his mission was to turn people away from Jesus’ way and, as he puts it, bring that back to sound doctrine.

I sought to find what Jesus found and found it. I did not follow the Christian way; I pretty much followed Jesus’ way. When I went to share this with the Christians all I got was resistance and rejection. As I looked into why Christians resisted my way (and Jesus’ way) I found several particular points that Christianity teaches AGAINST Jesus’ way.

First, Jesus did not think of himself as a sinner and taught that neither should we (Matt 5:48, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”) Being perfect means to be whole and complete, lacking nothing, without flaw. Perfection, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. If we actually try to do what the bible tells us then we will NOT take of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; in other words, we will not think we know what is good and what is evil, what is righteous and what is sinful. Or, to put it as Jesus did, we would be innocent as children to enter the kingdom of heaven. I also feel he was saying the same thing when he said, “Great is the God that reveals the truth unto babes but hides it from the wise and learned one (Mt 11:25).” The learned ones are those who think they know what is righteous and what is sinful.

The one who called himself the Apostle Paul taught that “all have sinned.” Christians who follow Paul’s faithless doctrine think that no one can perfect as Jesus was perfect. This is NOT true. Paul’s statement is obviously false (to me) for if ALL have sinned then that all must include Jesus. Yet most, if not all Christians than confess that Jesus was without sin. Therefore that proves that ALL have not sinned. But because Christians have been taught to treasure scriptures as inerrant they get trapped in a bind when shown that this is not true, so they cannot talk about it further.

Jesus started his ministry by telling people to “repent” or completely change their ways of thinking. It is in our ways of thinking that effects the quality of our life experience. If we think like Jesus thought and how he suggested we think than we can experience that Kingdom of Heaven that is AT HAND, here, now, today.

I will try to point out more examples of the differences between Jesus' way and the apostles way (Christian way) in the future.

10 Things Science Says Will Make You Happy

by Jen Angel
http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=3022#2

In the last few years, psychologists and researchers have been digging up hard data on a question previously left to philosophers: What makes us happy? Researchers like the father-son team Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener, Stanford psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky, and ethicist Stephen Post have studied people all over the world to find out how things like money, attitude, culture, memory, health, altruism, and our day-to-day habits affect our well-being. The emerging field of positive psychology is bursting with new findings that suggest your actions can have a significant effect on your happiness and satisfaction with life. Here are 10 scientifically proven strategies for getting happy.

1) Savor Everyday Moments

Pause now and then to smell a rose or watch children at play. Study participants who took time to “savor” ordinary events that they normally hurried through, or to think back on pleasant moments from their day, “showed significant increases in happiness and reductions in depression,” says psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky.

2) Avoid Comparisons

While keeping up with the Joneses is part of American culture, comparing ourselves with others can be damaging to happiness and self-esteem. Instead of comparing ourselves to others, focusing on our own personal achievement leads to greater satisfaction, according to Lyubomirsky.

3) Put Money Low on the List

People who put money high on their priority list are more at risk for depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem, according to researchers Tim Kasser and Richard Ryan. Their findings hold true across nations and cultures. “The more we seek satisfactions in material goods, the less we find them there,” Ryan says. “The satisfaction has a short half-life—it’s very fleeting.” Money-seekers also score lower on tests of vitality and self-actualization.

4) Have Meaningful Goals

“People who strive for something significant, whether it’s learning a new craft or raising moral children, are far happier than those who don’t have strong dreams or aspirations,” say Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener. “As humans, we actually require a sense of meaning to thrive.” Harvard’s resident happiness professor, Tal Ben-Shahar, agrees, “Happiness lies at the intersection between pleasure and meaning. Whether at work or at home, the goal is to engage in activities that are both personally significant and enjoyable.”

5) Take Initiative at Work

How happy you are at work depends in part on how much initiative you take. Researcher Amy Wrzesniewski says that when we express creativity, help others, suggest improvements, or do additional tasks on the job, we make our work more rewarding and feel more in control.

6) Make Friends, Treasure Family

Happier people tend to have good families, friends, and supportive relationships, say Diener and Biswas-Diener. But it’s not enough to be the life of the party if you’re surrounded by shallow acquaintances. “We don’t just need relationships, we need close ones” that involve understanding and caring.

7) Smile Even When You Don’t Feel Like It

It sounds simple, but it works. “Happy people…see possibilities, opportunities, and success. When they think of the future, they are optimistic, and when they review the past, they tend to savor the high points,” say Diener and Biswas-Diener. Even if you weren’t born looking at the glass as half-full, with practice, a positive outlook can become a habit.

8) Say Thank You Like You Mean It

People who keep gratitude journals on a weekly basis are healthier, more optimistic, and more likely to make progress toward achieving personal goals, according to author Robert Emmons. Research by Martin Seligman, founder of positive psychology, revealed that people who write “gratitude letters” to someone who made a difference in their lives score higher on happiness, and lower on depression—and the effect lasts for weeks.

9) Get Out and Exercise

A Duke University study shows that exercise may be just as effective as drugs in treating depression, without all the side effects and expense. Other research shows that in addition to health benefits, regular exercise offers a sense of accomplishment and opportunity for social interaction, releases feel-good endorphins, and boosts self-esteem.

10) Give It Away, Give It Away Now!

Make altruism and giving part of your life, and be purposeful about it. Researcher Stephen Post says helping a neighbor, volunteering, or donating goods and services results in a “helper’s high,” and you get more health benefits than you would from exercise or quitting smoking. Listening to a friend, passing on your skills, celebrating others’ successes, and forgiveness also contribute to happiness, he says. Researcher Elizabeth Dunn found that those who spend money on others reported much greater happiness than those who spend it on themselves.