The reason most people never find God is because they don’t go low enough.
This quote is from Manfred Luck and is cited in my book Christianity 2.0. What it means is that we need to be willing to face the darkness inside of us, to honestly look at ourselves and acknowledge our flaws. In other words, we need to go low.
The new tools and methods mentioned in Christianity 2.0 and on this website will make it easier to do this. But easier does not mean easy. This is not an easy path. It is actually quite difficult as it requires that we face the truth about ourselves. But it is the only path that will lead to unconditional love and true salvation.
So the question is... How low are you willing to go?
Progressive Christianity, on the other hand, tells us that we should go high. It essentially says that all we need to do is acknowledge our inner awesomeness. We just need to realize that we are perfect just the way we are. We need to realize that we are inherently divine. We need to realize that we are God and thus we can make our own truth and our own rules for living.
But if each and every one of us are divine, then why is the world in the state that it's in? Why do wars occur? Why isn’t there love, peace, and harmony from one end of the earth to the other? From the evidence, it seems clear that we cannot all be divine. We cannot all be inherently good (If everyone and everything is divine, then the very idea of divinity is meaningless).
This world is designed to be the perfect training ground for each of us to grow and evolve. Therefore, if you were born into this world, it is highly unlikely that you are a perfectly enlightened person. You likely have a lot of spiritual work to do and a lot of negative karma to work through. So if you believe you are already enlightened, you are never going to find God. After all, how likely are you to find God if you believe that you are God?
The rise of Progressive Christianity has been fueled, at least in part, due to traditional Christianity’s flaws. I actually empathize somewhat with this. I actually believe Progressive Christianity has some good ideas. The problem is that every good idea they have, they take in the wrong direction.
For example, Progressive Christians reject the angry God of the Old Testament and teach that God is love. This is correct. Unfortunately, they reason that because God is love, this means that there is no hell, and thus everyone goes to heaven. This is incorrect. There is indeed a hell, and people do go there. Also, they emphasize the importance of love. This is also correct (Jesus taught unconditional love). Unfortunately, they fail to correctly define what love is. They seem to believe that love should always be affirming. But love does not always accept and affirm. Sometimes it needs to challenge or even reject (i.e. tough love). Sometimes people need tough love. Progressive Christians also believe that traditional Christianity’s emphasis on guilt and shame is a mistake. This is also correct, but they conclude that it’s okay to engage in behaviors that lack integrity and are self-destructive (i.e. promiscuous sex, homosexuality).
Progressive Christianity also seems to be a reaction to the attacks by Hollywood and our popular culture that have demonized Christianity to no end. Christians are constantly depicted as being intolerant, bigoted, mean, hateful, and homophobic. Rather than defend the religion and argue that these characterizations are wrong, some Christians have instead tried to move themselves out of the line of fire. They have done this by rejecting some or all of the religion’s most important tenets so they can claim, “We’re not intolerant. We’re not judgmental. We’re not hateful.” It’s a form of surrender (It also may be cowardice).
The result is a Christianity that is terrified of stepping on anyone’s toes. Its primary goal seems to be not to offend anyone. The problem with this is that truth is often offensive. It’s often uncomfortable. It’s often painful. The truth can sometimes rip your guts out.
So the only way to avoid offending people is to not teach the truth. But the consequence of this is that you are left with a sham of a religion, a religion that is so watered down that it has no moral code aside from “Be nice to each other” and thus has little of value to offer.
It certainly does not offer salvation.
This quote is from Manfred Luck and is cited in my book Christianity 2.0. What it means is that we need to be willing to face the darkness inside of us, to honestly look at ourselves and acknowledge our flaws. In other words, we need to go low.
The new tools and methods mentioned in Christianity 2.0 and on this website will make it easier to do this. But easier does not mean easy. This is not an easy path. It is actually quite difficult as it requires that we face the truth about ourselves. But it is the only path that will lead to unconditional love and true salvation.
So the question is... How low are you willing to go?
Progressive Christianity, on the other hand, tells us that we should go high. It essentially says that all we need to do is acknowledge our inner awesomeness. We just need to realize that we are perfect just the way we are. We need to realize that we are inherently divine. We need to realize that we are God and thus we can make our own truth and our own rules for living.
But if each and every one of us are divine, then why is the world in the state that it's in? Why do wars occur? Why isn’t there love, peace, and harmony from one end of the earth to the other? From the evidence, it seems clear that we cannot all be divine. We cannot all be inherently good (If everyone and everything is divine, then the very idea of divinity is meaningless).
This world is designed to be the perfect training ground for each of us to grow and evolve. Therefore, if you were born into this world, it is highly unlikely that you are a perfectly enlightened person. You likely have a lot of spiritual work to do and a lot of negative karma to work through. So if you believe you are already enlightened, you are never going to find God. After all, how likely are you to find God if you believe that you are God?
The rise of Progressive Christianity has been fueled, at least in part, due to traditional Christianity’s flaws. I actually empathize somewhat with this. I actually believe Progressive Christianity has some good ideas. The problem is that every good idea they have, they take in the wrong direction.
For example, Progressive Christians reject the angry God of the Old Testament and teach that God is love. This is correct. Unfortunately, they reason that because God is love, this means that there is no hell, and thus everyone goes to heaven. This is incorrect. There is indeed a hell, and people do go there. Also, they emphasize the importance of love. This is also correct (Jesus taught unconditional love). Unfortunately, they fail to correctly define what love is. They seem to believe that love should always be affirming. But love does not always accept and affirm. Sometimes it needs to challenge or even reject (i.e. tough love). Sometimes people need tough love. Progressive Christians also believe that traditional Christianity’s emphasis on guilt and shame is a mistake. This is also correct, but they conclude that it’s okay to engage in behaviors that lack integrity and are self-destructive (i.e. promiscuous sex, homosexuality).
Progressive Christianity also seems to be a reaction to the attacks by Hollywood and our popular culture that have demonized Christianity to no end. Christians are constantly depicted as being intolerant, bigoted, mean, hateful, and homophobic. Rather than defend the religion and argue that these characterizations are wrong, some Christians have instead tried to move themselves out of the line of fire. They have done this by rejecting some or all of the religion’s most important tenets so they can claim, “We’re not intolerant. We’re not judgmental. We’re not hateful.” It’s a form of surrender (It also may be cowardice).
The result is a Christianity that is terrified of stepping on anyone’s toes. Its primary goal seems to be not to offend anyone. The problem with this is that truth is often offensive. It’s often uncomfortable. It’s often painful. The truth can sometimes rip your guts out.
So the only way to avoid offending people is to not teach the truth. But the consequence of this is that you are left with a sham of a religion, a religion that is so watered down that it has no moral code aside from “Be nice to each other” and thus has little of value to offer.
It certainly does not offer salvation.