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CAN CHRISTIANITY BE SAVED FROM DEATH?

29/10/2013

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By now, it must be obvious to most people that the Christian Church is close to death from a disease known as irrelevancy. However, death can be avoided through changes that engage the church in the problems faced by the general community. One way is for the clergy to go against the restriction on expressing political views and show all members of the church how they, too, can express their religious views to anyone, on any political issue. The church should not be bullied into being silent about politics because submitting to this bullying is a major cause of the present irrelevancy of the church.

It’s rather strange how voters accept that it’s OK for a politician to vote on issues according to party political views, but it’s not OK for a politician to vote according to denominational religious views. It seems to be OK to put party politics above the good of the country, but it’s not OK to even express a viewpoint based on religion. As strange and unjust as this may seem, I doubt that it will change. Therefore, religious views have to be expressed in a way that is acceptable to the political scene.   

Politics is about who gets the power to make rules about how people should act towards each other, while maintaining a healthy economy. Amongst other things, religion is also about how people should act towards each other, while maintaining a healthy economy. However, there is a big difference between the two in regard to the base used for making social rules. To prepare people to speak out politically, the church needs to realise that the parliament already claims to accept the main message of Jesus as the base for making political decisions but doesn’t put it into practice. 

 A common theme in all the major religions is the principle that all people are equal and the constitution of most countries state that decision-making should be based on the equality of all people. Admittedly, that is not how the religions or countries actually operate but herein lies the great opportunity for the church to regain relevance, by reverting back to what Jesus was mainly on about; establishing the equality of all people as the base for society.   

Politicians have succeeded in getting us to believe we have a political view and a religious view and that we should keep them separate. However, if the church were to emphasise that the message of Jesus isn’t true simply because he said it; he said it because it is true. When people take that message as a truth; it becomes their belief and can be expressed as a personal political view, rather than justifying their thoughts by quoting scripture. In other words, the message can become their personal political views because their political views and their religious views are the same.

When our political views and religious views are the same - that from a cosmic point of view all people are equal - we can confidently comment on any issue in regard to politics and economics. And all the decisions we make, including the social systems we set up, should reflect that truth.

I can state what I believe to be the denominational view on an issue, or what I believe to be the party political view of an issue, but my personal view reflects both my political and religious beliefs because they are the same. If I say that my religious view is that all people are equal, but have no choice about living in a social system that perpetuates or increases inequality, I must at least attempt to reduce inequality in my own relationships. Maybe there will always be inequality but my focus should be on improving the social system so it moves in the direction of equality for all. For that reason, the only justification for being a member of a political party is to influence the party decision-making towards establishing the equality of all people.

Conclusion.

Can the church be saved from death? In its present form I don’t think it’s possible to save it. However, if it is willing to make significant changes, the church could extend its life indefinitely. The main change needed to become relevant is to lead by example, so the political and religious views of parishioners become subject to the principle that all people are equal. And since the church and the political system already agree on the truth of that base, each could hold the other accountable for putting it into practice. And the people could then hold them both accountable. Imagine the peace that would descend on the world if such a system became the norm in all countries.

For more information click here. 

By Bob Myers, an accidental Christian.



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CONQUERING LIFE'S CHALLENGES.

7/10/2013

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The common link for solving whatever challenge life presents you with contains a challenge of its own. You can overcome any challenge if you centre yourself, but the trick is to know what to centre on. The appropriate centre depends on the challenge. Below are five examples of challenges, with the main one being to quit smoking.  

A ballet dancer spins without getting dizzy because she practices centring her gaze on a fixed point for some time during each turn of a pirouette.

A golfer soon learns that thinking, “All I have to do is miss that tree,” almost ensures the ball will hit the tree because his mind is centred on the tree. What he should do is pick a point on the fairway that will give the next shot a clear path to the green.

In dieting, the high failure rate indicates a need for dieters to change what they centre on for success. Instead of choosing a preferred body weight, they should centre on living a lifestyle that will maintain their preferred body weight before and after the body weight is achieved.

Many people do anger management courses because they are coerced into it. These people do well in the course until a marriage is resumed or a court case is over and then slip back into the cycle of violence. These courses should centre on frustration rather than anger because frustration comes before anger. Centring on frustration points to the skills, knowledge, beliefs and values needed to reduce the frustration that leads to anger.

Now for an example from my life of what centring means and what happens when the chosen centre is appropriate to the goal. I was addicted to cigarettes for 39 years and during that time I must have attempted to quit a hundred times. But, when I centred my mind on something other than quitting, quitting became quite easy, so easy that it was weeks before my wife realised I wasn’t smoking.

In previous attempts I centred on being a smoker trying to quit, which was really centring on smoking. This time I centred on being a non-smoker, which means thinking and acting as a non-smoker thinks and acts. By centring on ‘I am a non-smoker,’ I found that the anguish of not smoking was almost non-existent. Other people tell me they had a similar experience when they made the decision to go cold-turkey.

Non-smokers don’t hang around smokers to get smoke in their lungs, and they don’t get irritable from not smoking. How many non-smokers get irritable about not smoking? Non-smokers don’t brag about how long it is since their last fag. A non-smoker doesn’t try to impress all and sundry by announcing that he hasn’t had a smoke for a week, and non-smokers don’t chew on lollies to take their mind off smoking.

I didn’t do any of those things either, and any such thought drifting into my mind was quickly shown the way out. How easily I quit by doing that is an example of what it’s like when the mind is comfortable with both the centre and the goal. There was a complete giving over, or conversion, to being a non-smoker and all of my self-talk reinforced my new identity as a non-smoker.

So, the first and most important step we should take to overcome any challenge is to choose what to centre on to succeed, and then practice positive self-talk every step of the way.
 
Bob Myers.


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    Author

    Bob Myers owned and operated an electronics sales and service business before gaining a degree in sociology and further training in relationship counselling, conflict resolution and mediation. He worked in that field for more than thirty years, mainly with teenagers and their families. For 16 years he was the director of a non-government residential facility for teenagers. He is the author of three books on parenting as well as :
    Travelling the Road of Peace and Happiness.

    Bob is dedicated to nonviolence as a way of life; a founding member of Pace e Bene Australia (PeBA); and a PeBA nonviolence facilitator.

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Travelling the Road of Peace and Happiness is an ebook that helps you learn more about family peace, conflict resolution, self development, relationship building and more.
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