Le-way @ MindSay

Christianity teaches that you have to be a Christian to go to Heaven. This requirement essentially condemns the vast majority of people to hell. Those who have given their life to God but do so without the help of Christ will fall short of receiving Gods grace and find themselves on the wrong side of the pearly gates. There is only one way to God and it is through Christ.

A common claim that Christians often make is that the choice is ours. We can choose to either accept Christ into our lives or reject Him entirely. If we fail to make a choice, we still have made a choice. The problem with this line of thinking is clear: Christ is not a fact and the truth could be almost anything. It makes more sense to put our faith in (something like) the fruits of our labor or the methods of science than religion is worth. It makes no sense to commit our lives to such superstitious beliefs (as these people do).

According to Le-way, everyone is wrong about God, including me. It’s not that I’m right. It’s that God’s not wrong. The important thing is that we be true to ourselves. If we’re not being true to ourselves, we’re not being true to God. Le-way doesn’t have to be true to be right and since no one knows what’s true, all that matters is what’s right. If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything. We should stand for what’s right, even if it means facing the fires of hell and never getting to rejoice in our good deeds (of which, there are many). Forever isn’t worth forsaking ourselves in the name of some God that doesn’t live up to our expectations of what a God should be. God is good and the devil is bad. If you don’t understand this, then you don’t understand.

Another problem I have with the Christian dilemma is what they consider right from wrong or, in other words, a sin. A thing is right or wrong (and to the degree that it is right or wrong) for reasons that can be determined. A sin can usually be defined as an action or behavior that brings harm to ones self or another. There are exceptions to the rule which most often involve the greater good or the lesser of two evils. There are also what I call the lesser sins which are sins that do not necessarily bring about harm to anyone but are still apart from Gods will (or, in other words, not something we’ll be doing in Heaven). What makes something right or wrong is not what distinguishes it from other things but the fruit it bares. A sin is a sin is a sin for the mere reason that everything we do results from the same knowledge of good and evil that gives us the right to be a fool. It’s called original sin and is what separates us from God.

Christianity veers from this course and tries to define a sin in ways that do not agree with the way things really are. A prime example is homosexuality. According to Christianity homosexuality is an abomination. It is among the worst of sins when really it is anything but. Homosexuality is a lesser sin at worst. Gay people have sex for the exact same reasons straight people do (short of having children). They have sex with each other to express love, show affection, give and experience pleasure and so on. Their motives are absolutely no different than what two straight people share with each other. The only real difference is that it falls outside of societies norms and therefore earns ridicule (deserved or otherwise). We should be more concerned with unsafe and promiscuous sex than same sex behavior. It is wrong to hold such things against a person when they have nothing to do with us or anyone else for that matter. Homosexuality is no more a sin than a lot of other things people take for granted. It is certainly a forgivable offense.

As I see it the worlds religions are just a bunch of (different) ways to worship the same God. You don’t have to be a Christian or believe in the God of the Jews. You merely need to believe that God is perfect and put Him in control. It doesn’t matter what you call or do not call God because God is the God of everyone or He is the God of no one. He either is or He isn’t. God is like a mirror, the mirror never changes but everyone who looks at it sees a different face. There is more than one path to a spiritual awakening but they all lead to God. According to Le-way, there will be liberty and justice for all.

There is little doubt that someone named Jesus of Nazareth walked the Earth some 2000 years ago, claimed to be the Son of God and die for our sins. Many of the worlds religions, at least, think of Him as a prophet. Among them are the Bah’ai Faith, Islam and numerous others. They all agree that He was a real person and a splendid teacher but not, necessarily, that He was who He claimed to be.

A few religions profess their particular prophet to be the last in a long line of prophets.

In order for this to be the case, all the others would have to be wrong which seems unlikely, if not totally absurd (According to Le-way). It’s far more probable that God has and will continue to send messengers (on His behalf) to share His way of life and unique perspective with those who will listen. I propose to be one such individual.

Christianity teaches us that the divinity of Christ is without restraint. They claim we must either believe Jesus is the Son of God and that He literally died for our sins (so that all who believe in His name shall not die but have eternal life) or lose out on salvation entirely. To believe He was merely a man or a prophet is not good enough. The only way to God is through Christ. People of all other faiths will face the fires of hell for not accepting Christ as their lord and savior.

According to Le-way, the way to go to Heaven is to surrender The Knowledge of Good and Evil which can be accomplished in as many ways as there are to be sincere. You don’t have to be a Christian, Muslim or a Jew. You merely need to believe that God is perfect and be willing to trade your life for His. Those who fail to do so will end up in Utopia (also called the Land of Oz) where they will experience Perfect On-going Justice, Actual Free-will and a Permanent 2^nd Chance (to surrender The Knowledge of Good and Evil and go to Heaven).

Unfortunately, there is no way for any of us to substantiate either of these claims. No one knows for sure if Jesus truly was the Son of God or that Le-way isn’t just make believe. We must choose to either concede we are completely blind to the truth (and go on with our lives) or put our faith in what the truth should be (If there really were a God). According to Le-way, there will be liberty and justice for all whether or not anyone actually believes it‘s teachings are true. As for Christianity, a few souls will be saved but countless more will be cast into the depths of hell based solely on what they do or do not believe. The point is that our beliefs do not determine what is or what isn’t and that’s the way it should be.

The divinity of Christ may be impossible to tell but the mans motives seem clear. He may or may not have been the Son of God but, in either case, He (did indeed) die for our sins. I do not believe that Jesus of Nazareth merely wanted to be famous or make a name for himself. We know this person lived and what He did in principle (was selfless), if nothing else. He had His calling, as I have mine and you have yours. He answered His, I intend to answer mine and yours is up to you. It’s completely possible that Jesus could have been sent in the same manner I have and others before me have. The question is whether or not Jesus had to be the Son of God to accomplish His task or that such a task was necessary to begin with.

If this proves to be the case and Jesus truly is the Son of God (or someone chosen to die for our sins), I believe He would have done so unconditionally. It makes no sense to base a persons salvation on what they do or do not believe. Christianity teaches us just the opposite which is why it’s wrong to be a Christian. How can members of any other religion ever acknowledge that what He did (for us) was good if He excludes them from benefiting from His actions? According to Le-way, no one will ever be refused salvation based on their religious preferences. God is good and the devil is bad. This is all a person must believe.

The Next President

As an American I am most familiar with Christianity than any other belief system. At the same time, I was not raised in a Christian household like many of my peers. Instead my parents left it up to my brother and I to determine our own beliefs and encouraged us to think for ourselves. As a result I was given the opportunity to be true to myself by thinking outside the box and considering as many angles

as possible.

One of the concepts I have long accepted but now choose to do away with is the idea that God is omnipotent. It’s not that I doubt that good will ultimately prevail over evil but rather that the reason for this is that there is more good and a greater desire (or need) for good to overcome what isn’t. The nature of evil is to destroy itself while good seeks to further itself.

The hard reality is that there are two forces in the universe, like night and day, male and female, yin and yang, there is good and evil. Understanding this has lead me to solving The Problem of Evil. The Problem of Evil suggests that God can not exist to allow so much pain and suffering in the world.

I have previously proposed that the devil was a great angel given the responsibility of guarding over the knowledge of good and evil who was seduced by what it had to offer. This may very well still be the case and in fact may be the very thing that gave the devil his power.

God allowed Adam and Eve and the angels under His command to decide for themselves if the knowledge of good and evil was something they wanted. He did this because He is fair. The difficulty is that free-will (which comes from the knowledge of good and evil) is incapable of producing results that are just as fair. This brings us to The Problem of Evil which must be discussed if God is worth believing in.

The solution is a war that has lasted for millions of years and may last many more to come. It’s not a question of who will win but only a matter of how long it will take. Good will ultimately prevail over evil for the reasons I spoke of before. It’s not that God did not create the Universe and everything in it. The problem is that God made the mistake of trusting Satan with the knowledge of good and evil which the devil used inappropriately to make war with God and put His kingdom in jeopardy.

Ultimately, there are 2 principles at work here. The first being that God is fair which is why He allowed all this to take place. The other is called dualism but not in the most literal sense. True dualism would not allow for justice to be served in its proper context and would therefore produce undesirable results. It may not be that God is omnipotent in the sense that He can do away with evil as He pleases but, maybe, in the sense that evil will be done away with when all is finished.

Over the years I have taken it upon myself to study the worlds religions and learn as much about them as I can. I have come to the conclusion that they are all as valid as any other and tend to agree with those who believe that God has and will continue to send messengers on His behalf to offer new and different insights into His character.

I find it interesting the way that many religions (especially the monotheistic ones) seem to have evolved over time by making small (although often significant) changes to the earlier ones. It seems as though God has sent prophet after prophet into the world only to find He must send another to correct the errors of those who came before the most current one.

Among the earliest of the great mono-theistic religions was Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism is well known to have had a great deal of influence on many of the worlds religions, including Judaism and Christianity. It’s almost ironic that Zoroastrians (of which there remain a few) have long believed that a messiah will be born to a virgin much like what Christianity is based on. Some scholars have even proposed that the Three Wise Men were actually Zoroastrian priests based on the direction from which they came.

I also find it interesting what Zoroastrianism has to say about Heaven and Hell. According to it’s teachings God will judge people based on the number of good deeds they have tallied compared to how many bad deeds they are responsible for. A person who has managed more good deeds than bad ones will go to Heaven while those who fair otherwise will be condemned to Hell. They even believe in a place like Purgatory where those who have committed the same number of good deeds as bad will take residence (if only for a time).

This is clearly a simplistic approach to justice which other religions would ultimately do better to address. Christianity offered us an entirely different means of salvation. Jesus based it on a persons faith in Him which is no more fair, if not even further from the truth than Zoroastrianism. Along came Islam and Submission to God which made a little more sense (as a path to salvation) but still based a persons salvation on what they do or do not believe. The Bah’ai Faith and a number of other religions attempted to unify the worlds religions by suggesting that it didn’t matter what religion a person belongs to but only that they follow the path God has prepared for them.

The problem with all of these religions is that none of them allow a person to have a relationship with God without following certain moral expectations (or, at least, attempting to). According to Le-way, the way to go to Heaven is to surrender the knowledge of good and evil which can be accomplished in as many ways as there are to be sincere. The difference is that Le-way condemns no one to hell but provides liberty and justice for all in a place I call Utopia (also called The Land of Oz). Those who have yet to turn their will and their lives over to the care of God will not experience the fires of hell but rather Perfect On-going Justice, Actual Free-will and a Permanent 2^nd Chance (to surrender the Knowledge of Good and Evil and go to Heaven). I call it the right to be a fool or not to be.