In the 1960s, it is no wonder that the searing words of Nietzsche made headlines: "God is dead!" reverberated through the media and through the thousands of little white churches across the world. Perhaps more appropriate words would be: God as we knew God is now dead. But the good news is that with the dawning of a new age of awareness, the divine is being reborn. We are all becoming more and more aware that our lives are fuller with a sense of spiritual connection. But the God of our fathers has not walked the information highway! Instead there is emerging a new fusion of spiritual concepts that come from every point on the globe.
Joseph Campbell suggested in his extensive research of religion and myth that religion is a metaphor no matter what mask it wears. Religion is a metaphor for the finite mind to comprehend the infinite qualities of deity. This deity, at its source, is the same regardless of the mask.
The concept of “Spirituality” as a way of communing with the Divine was born in the1960s when there were widespread revolts against every form of organized authority, including “organized religion.” Every establishment and every system of authority was thought to be corrupt and evil, including those which were religious — but of course, Americans weren’t prepared to abandon religion entirely. So, they created a new category which was still religious, but which no longer included the same traditional authority figures.
What is the difference between Spirituality and religion? Your answer to that question probably depends on your age. Younger people are more inclined to think of Spirituality as the belief in a higher power without the behavioral constraints and traditional customs of the established religions. Older people are more inclined to think of Spirituality as another New Age rationalization of poor discipline and pre-occupation with self.
Our religion is what we believe in. Our spirituality is how we live our religion in the world with others. Sort of like the difference between doing and being? The difference between religion and Spirituality today is that many if not most people who practice religion go into a building, sometimes a magnificent one that has all the trappings of a palace, and worship their King for an hour or two each week, while people who practice Spirituality weave it into their total being the way early Native Americans wove their worship of the Great Spirit into all the daily aspects of their lives.
If you need someone to define your life for you and to take responsibility for your decisions, then religion is a good place for you. If you can create your own connection with your own higher power without a go-between and know that you are responsible for creating your own divine self, then religious dogma will only oppress.
One problem I’ve always had with religion is that the various religions and denominations of religions have become “mega-cliques.” Those who need religion and have chosen one tend to think everybody needs it, and that their chosen religion is the right one.
The bottom line is that religion and worship are human inventions. Neither will grant anyone a pass into whatever afterlife there may be. Spirituality, on the other hand, which is the most deeply personal form of faith, is what may bring our souls closer to everlasting peace and comfort. At the very least, it could bring peace on earth, something that religion has failed miserably to do.
Video. Who is God? What is the nature of God? What is the difference between religion and spirituality? Burt Goldman has trained with spiritual gurus and interacted with religious leaders all over the world. He shares his views based on his 50-year journey of spirituality in understanding who God truly is.
Meditation
by Whit's Whittlings
Down a path Without destination Away from wrath And desperation.
Away from doing And into being Away from going And into seeing.
Mind over matter And merged as One Away from chatter And inward drawn
Into a sleep And then awaking To a state deep With no angst partaking
Losing this world But finding peace With my soul unfurled My troubles cease.
It seems today that there is a battle going on between the Bible Thumpers and the Bible Bashers. Either you believe in Jesus and rub it in everyone’s face, or you worship nothing and rub that in everyone’s face. Is there a middle ground? I believe there is, and that is the practice of Spirituality.
What is the difference between Spirituality and religion?
Spirituality is personal; religion is public. Religion deals with the trappings of mystical and metaphysical experience; Spirituality consists of the experiences themselves. Taking communion is religion; how you feel during the experience of taking communion is Spirituality. Spirituality is a personal working out of one's beliefs on what is most important to one, whereas religion connotes a top-down system where some authority figure tells one what to believe and think.
Popular etymology among the later ancients (and many modern writers) connects the word “religion” with religare "to bind fast" via notion of "place an obligation on," or "bond between humans and gods." Spirituality came from the Latin word for “to breathe”. However, while spiritus meant breath originally, it came to mean `soul' during the Augustan era, taking over from the word anima `soul' (from which English gets animal, animate, etc.), which, interestingly, also denoted `breath.' Spiritus became the accepted word in Christian Latin writings.
Picture the following scenario: You are going on a trip. The desired route has been carefully plotted, and you feel confident in reaching your destination with minimal hassle. Casually, you mention your trip to your neighbor. "But wait," says he, "I know a much better way to go." He then proceeds to give you directions. They sound complicated, but he's a smart fellow, maybe he knows something you don't. The day of the trip, you take his advice. You get where you are going just fine, but you realize that your own directions would have done just as well. And so it is with religion.
It has been said that religion is simply an accident of birth. If one is born into a Catholic family, he or she is raised as such, and therefore usually remains Catholic. Even if they become disenchanted with their original birth religion, most people never actively change it. Therefore, religious intolerance is largely a matter of "The way I was raised is better than the way you were raised.” This then becomes an excuse to attack people of different belief systems on the basis of superiority.
This is how one person described the difference between religion and Spirituality:
“My own awareness of the difference between religion and Spirituality came upon me when I was around 15 years old. I was born into a very religious family and going to church on Sunday, at least, was a must. So, one beautiful Sunday morning I got up and prepared for church. I walked to the building by myself and it hit me; I didn't need to go into this structure to find ‘God‘(at least the version I was taught to believe in at that time). I walked past the church and kept going to a local park. There I sat, talking to the Divine, truly feeling His/Her presence. After I left, the feeling stayed with me. I was a better person that entire week - all I had to do was recall the feeling of total peace I felt in that park. So, I did not have a ‘religious’ experience - I had a ‘spiritual’ one.”
Religion is for people who are afraid to go to hell. Spirituality is for people who have already been there." ---- Anonymous
The main difference between Spirituality and religion is the freedom to choose your own path towards enlightenment and, ultimately, recognition of your divine self. There is no one who can tell you how to find your personal truth or your blazing, undeniable truthful connection with the Great Spirit. (God/dess, the Creator, the Infinite, the One, (or the Many) or whatever represents the Divine to you.
There are many paths to enlightenment. Be sure to take the one with a heart. -- Lao Tzu
Meditation
by Whit's Whittlings
Down a path Without destination Away from wrath And desperation.
Away from doing And into being Away from going And into seeing.
Mind over matter And merged as One Away from chatter And inward drawn
Into a sleep And then awaking To a state deep With no angst partaking
Losing this world But finding peace With my soul unfurled My troubles cease.
Eight Things I Have Learned About God and Jesus in the Last Eight Years
Eight Things I Have Learned About God and Jesus in the Last Eight Years
1. The former Hebrew Christian God is now 100% American (naturalized citizen). 2. God is a Republican. 3. God favors the Far Right politically. 4. God favors the Religious Right as His chosen people.
5. God speaks directly to President Bush, Pat Robertson,and Sarah Palin. Occasionally, He tips His hat to Anne Coulter. 6. God supports President Bush’s “culture of life” philosophy in America and his “culture of death” philosophy in the war of occupation in Iraq, resulting in the killing of up to 600,000 Iraqis, including tens of thousands of innocent women and children. 7. God favors tax cuts for the wealthy and program cuts for the poor, the sick, and the hungry.
“What about that, Jesus?” I asked. “What’s your view?”
Jesus replied, “I identified with the poor people of my day. I spent most of my public ministry with people in the marketplace and streets, rubbing elbows with sinners and the poor, seeking to liberate them from whatever enslaved them.”
“Well,” I said, “we are sorry, Jesus. This administration favors the wealthy. So, Jesus, what will happen to all these wealthy people in the hereafter?”
Jesus replied, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
“Then,” I queried, “ isn’t the Bush Administration jeopardizing the place in the Kingdom of Heaven of these rich people by increasing their wealth even more with tax cuts?”
“Indeed it is,” answered Jesus.
8. Then Jesus said, “But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.”
“ I am sorry, Jesus,“ I cried. “Not in the kingdom of George I, King of America. In his kingdom the few that are first shall always be first; and the many that are last shall always be last.”
And Jesus wept.
Video. Benny Hinn and Creflo Dollar Exposed as Satan's Greedy Preachers.
Almost twelve years ago, in December of 1996, the Oakland Unified School District Board of Education passed a resolution establishing the teaching of Ebonics (aka Black English) in its schools. Since that time, portions of the King James Version of the Holy Bible have been translated into Ebonics. The following is a translation of the Lord’s Prayer from English into Ebonics. I have included the English version in parentheses:
BIG DADDY’S RAP (THE LORD’S PRAYER)
Yo, Big Daddy upstairs, (Our Father, who art in heaven)
You be chillin’ (Hallowed be thy name)
So be yo hood (Thy Kingdom come)
You be sayin’ it, I be doin’ it (Thy will be done)
In this here hood and yo’s (On earth as it is in heaven)
Gimme some eats (Give us this day our daily bread)
And cut me some slack, Blood (And forgive us our trespasses)
Sos I be doin’ it to dem dat diss me (As we forgive those who trespass against us)
Don’t be pushin’ me into no jive (And lead us not into temptation)
And keep dem Crips away (But deliver us from evil)
'Cause (For)
You always be da Man, G
Straight up. (Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever)
Aa-men (Amen)
Some Biblical purists might object to the translation of the Lord’s Prayer into Ebonics, but those individuals who support such a translation say that it is an attempt to reach, in a language they can understand , the people who are in most need of the message.
What is your view?
Video. BIBLE RAP - Baby Got BOOK !!! The Potters House Christian Fellowship Fairfield Sydney NSW Australia
Video. José Carreras sings"Lord's Prayer" in Rome.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if the United States, which sent armed forces into Afghanistan to remove the Taliban and to keep them from returning to power there, were to end up surrendering its own government and way of life to an American Taliban version of Christianity that is developing in its own backyard. Read the following statements with some trepidation:
Theocracy is derived from the two Greek words Qeo/j(Theos) meaning "God" and kra/tein (cratein) meaning "to rule." The Reverend Rod Parsley, a champion of theocracy, or what he calls a "Christocracy," told his congregation at the World Harvest Church, located just outside Columbus, Ohio, "Theocracy means God is in control, and you are not.”
The theocratic right seeks to establish dominion, or control over society in the name of God. D. James Kennedy, Pastor of Coral Ridge Ministries, calls on his followers to exercise "godly dominion ... over every aspect ... of human society." At a "Reclaiming America for Christ" conference in February, 2005, Kennedy said: Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise Godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society.”
First of all, one should note who would be the "vice regents of God." Thus, if ever there should be an evangelical takeover of our democratic government and the establishment of a "Christocracy" by the American Taliban, our citizens, just as were the citizens of Afghanistan under the Taliban, would be told what to say, what to read, what to think, who to marry, who to like, and who to hate. Most literature would be banned. Certain art works would be destroyed. The heritage of the Enlightenment would vanish . The study of our universe would regress to the understanding that people had two thousand years ago. Women would lose all the civil rights they have gained over the past centuries. They would not be able to receive an education, seek employment, drive a car, inherit property, or have control over their own bodies. Women would be under the total control of the men in their society.
Today, as we witness religion transmogrified into politics, we need to remember that the United States came into existence from a heritage that declared that kings do not have a “divine right to rule.” Are we going to stand by now and let the American Taliban invoke their version of the “divine right to rule?”
Remember, Jesus belonged to no political party. Now we have Christians who used to say, “Render unto Caesar...” now saying that they are Caesar.
For those who believe that the American Taliban have every right under the First Amendment to engage in their evangelical movement I would reply, “Yes, but should they have a tax-exempt status while they attempt to subvert our government and our way of life?”
Video. Sarah Palin: Pentecostal. The radical religious right has succeeded in taking over one of America's great political parties. The country is not yet a theocracy but the Republican Party is, and they are driving American politics, using God as a battering ram on almost every issue: crime and punishment, foreign policy, health care, taxation, energy, regulation, social services and so on." -- Bill Moyers
