Christianity to New Age?

I came from Christianity. I'm not exactly New Age but I've leaned that way and passed through it on the way to other things.

To some Christians this may look like tempting to lead people astray, but that is all perspective. How do we know it's not a lie? Well, how do you know that anything is not a lie?

I wanted to explore and try things for myself. Christianity means well in some ways but I kind of saw it as being stuck on an island where nobody wants to go to sea due to warnings of monsters and dragons that will eat you. I want to explore this sea, even though it might be dangerous.

 

I've picked up some New Age beliefs mostly surrounding stones and energies. The why of it is because I like them and God made them. To say that I am a practicing Christian or practicing New Age person is probably not really accurate though.

Maybe, but anything could be forced into such an analogy.

Because I am a Sensor and am not burdened by the curse of having to rely on intuition. Now you may ask how do I know that my Sensorness is not being bombarded? Well the answer is simple, I would sense it.

Why does it need to be bombarded anyways? Eve was not bombarded, it just took like one question to make her decide to eat the apple.

 

I like to try to see the world objectively. I was raised as Christian, and I respect peoples right to religion. But religion can also create a great deal of conflict, guilt, and destruction.

I hope religion moves away from fear and superstition, miracles and "rapture" towards philosophy and consolation. Where I think it can be a very constructive thing.

I think the Bible and religious books were written by humans. Maybe very well meaning people, but people. I mean no disrespect to anyone in saying that, and I'm not an atheist.

 

(Some of this is controversial, just adding another perspective, not trying to irritate anyone or any specific religion)

First of all...the Eden story has many different interpretations and versions...some stories even where what the “Christian” religion calls “God” has been corrupted and it’s completely backward.
There is no denying that the book has been omitted, altered, misinterpreted, added to, until who knows what really was there originally or not.
We do know that no one who is giving a first person account of Jesus - did not write that account themselves, but rather it was passed down through verbal history and probably was closer to 200 years after Jesus is said to have existed did it finally get recorded on some kind of writing.
The tree they ate from is the "Tree of the knowledge of good and evil”, which most agree the good and evil is an interpretation really meaning “everything”.
This whole story also contradicts the idea that God somehow did not plan this to be the result.
If God knows all, including the history of time, then surely putting the trees there (there was also the Tree of Life), was no accident....God didn’t have to put them there....nor did he have to command them NOT to eat them...nor would God be unaware that “Satan” was there as a snake tempting Eve to eat the apple.
Speaking of which was most likely a mushroom and not a tree...specifically Psilocybe Cubensis...Terrence McKenna proposed the idea that it was this mushroom that helped humans evolve and develop a connection to spirituality.
This has been shown in various ancient frescos and stained glass, what are obviously mushrooms of the magic sort.

The entire background is the famous red and white spotted Amanita Muscaria.



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Anyhow, just examples of how things can be changed over the centuries.
I was raised Mormon...so I understand how religion can permeate every aspect of someone’s life.
And being religious or spiritual is not a negative thing as you know...it’s really been the interpretations by various people over the years that has caused all the discontent, wars, death, mass murder, etc.

I like that verse at the end...but it doesn’t tell you anything you didn’t already know.
If God created us, then He created our minds and brains and our sense of critical thinking - how could he give someone such abilities to think and learn and then expect to limit ourselves?
I’m not saying to go join the Church of Satan just to explore it...not at all...rather I am saying to use your knowledge and intuition to judge what is good and positive to have as a part of your life.
My family eventually left the Mormon church because my older brother came out as Gay.
My parents chose him over the religion.
I can’t in any sense, see them being punished in the afterlife for such a thing...nor him for being Gay.
And anyone who still thinks it’s a choice - you are living in the dark ages and are not correct, please read up on current psychology and physiology and accept that they were born with this sexual preference just as you were born with yours.
(My own personal theory is that the more overpopulated the world gets, the more we will see a prevalence of homosexuality as a means to slow that down...idk...me and my Brother have discussed it in depth)

People are yearning for spirituality, but are disappointed in the organized religions of today.
Either they are trapped in the past and go through the motions without really remembering why they do it that way - they just always have.
Or they have some Rock n’ Roll evangelical pastor who shows you how cool Jesus is, and how much He ROCKS!
Again...both are undesirable for me and many others.
And many people see the hypocrisy many of these religions show...such as the Mormon religion being so fucking family centric - yet are one of the biggest monetary contributors to fight any LGBQT legislation and have issued decrees that children of Gay parents must shun them and vice versa.
Sorry...but that is not bringing families together...it’s tearing them apart, it’s causing more separation and hatred and resentment.
It’s that kind of shit that make me really distrust anything else that said religion has to tell me after that.
BTW - the word “Hell” never existed in the Bible.
The words that were combined into that word were - Sheol, Gehenna, Tartarus, and Hades.
None of which mean eternal torture and pain (one is in fact a park in Israel now, used to be a giant burning trash heap that Jesus likened Men’s hearts’ to)...yet were all turned into the word “Hell” in the middle ages (thanks Dante!), as a means to control people via fear.
The root word for “Hell” is “Hel” who is the niece of Odin in Nordic mythology, she ruled over their underworld (where everyone went), so it’s not even a Christian word to begin with.
It became synonymous with root cellars also in the middle ages...where you would store your potatoes and other such things...underground.
So the below ground idea...the underworld, the grave, the prison for giants that the original words meant were all compressed and encompassed into - “Hell”.
And here is the thing...Jesus was sent to “save the whole world”.
Yet most religions would definitely not say that the whole world will be saved...in fact some have only a tiny percentage making it there (i.e. your verse cited).
If Jesus was supposed to save the whole world and only a tiny fraction is going to be “saved” then Jesus failed horribly.
I find that to be a bit silly if it was all predestined that he would sacrifice his life here to save us all.
His final words were “forgive them for they know not what they do.” this is about those crucifying and killing him.
Do you think they were forgiven?
Jesus said they were...the very people killing Christ....so what makes us think that any of our “sins” which are usually quite far and superficial from “killing Jesus” on the scale of sinning as the worst thing you could probably do.
I would think killing Jesus just about tops it.
And yet they are forgiven.
Just something to consider.

I wouldn’t consider myself a religious person, but a spiritual person yes.
Not like I’m something special, but just based on what I tend to lean toward.
I think that most religions are good places, and most people who go mean well.
But like @sprinkles pointed out and I agree with - there is so much more of worth out there imho than organized religion can fully grant you.
It’s a good set of morals (for the most part - besides the killing of witches and stoning people to death, cutting off hands, eyes, pillars of salt, bets made with Satan by God to fuck with Job) and a way for those to find a pathway.
Some of us like to make our own paths....and it may be more perilous - at least that is what organized religion will tell you...but ultimately I believe that the more knowledge we can acquire, the better off we are.
And imho we all have an innate knowledge of what is positive or negative for you or for others.
We see this very simple built-in behavior in toddlers.

And most religions besides being fear mongers, do not want you to think critically.
They want no doubt...according to them, to doubt is to lack faith.
Didn’t Jesus doubt in the garden the night before his crucifixion?
He did.
Why can’t we?
Why can’t we ask questions about anything in regards to the religion?
Why does the Vatican have secret religious writings that only certain people are allowed to read?
Why shouldn’t we feel doubt?
Doubt leads to questions...questions lead you to answers...and if there is no ready answer, then doubt does not overshadow your faith.
You can have faith and still doubt.
Imho you really can’t have one without the other...because faith is basically trusting in God or Source or whatever you want to call Him/Her/It/Them.
Faith to me is how much control we hold over our own reality through willpower and belief.
Jesus walked on water with faith - he was able to manipulate our reality with it - loaves and fishes.
To me, faith is very tangible and can absolutely effect our lives or the lives of others.
But imho should also never be “blind”.
They want you to just blindly believe, or believe it because it’s what the book says, or the Pastor says, or Skarekrow said.
Not all...but many.
There is nothing wrong with “Christianity”, but it has it’s own limits and issues, contradictions and flat out falsehoods.
We are all free to believe what we wish, you should follow the path that seems right to you regardless of those who will issue dire warnings of things that they have no experience with.
And what do humans do with things we don’t understand? - we fear it, we discount it, we try to stop or destroy it.
Don’t let fear be the driver of your doubt, and don’t think that doubting is a bad thing, it’s liberating to think for yourself.
(my two cents)
Hope you are well and you are able to figure out for yourself what you really need.

 

Consider me thoroughly irritated.

 

Glad it made sense to you!!
Hahaha.
It’s funny when you talk to other INFJs how striking it can be how they get it where someone else would be like - WTF?

Here is another example of why Hell would be unjust...and God is said to be above all else - Just and kind.
(though not the Old Testament God....he was having a bad couple millennia I suppose and was cranky)
Anyway...Imagine that I own land.
And through this land people will pass going from point A to B.
Somewhere in my land is a big deep hole with sharp pointy rocks and surely if you fell in you would be seriously hurt and in pain.
(never mind why I created this terrible place to begin with, which I did...we will not get into that now)
((not to mention that I could bulldoze the pit closed))
So I created a pathway...and along the path I posted signs that say things like - Stay on the path or your will fall in the pit and die!!!
Or - Don’t stray from the path, it’s dangerous!!, etc. etc.
Well maybe some of the signs pointing the right way are a bit old and hard to read....maybe people have added their own ideas of which way to go or not go...maybe there is someone right in front of the sign yelling about how he knows what the sign (readable, or no longer readable) really means?
Either way...people having a natural curiosity....a natural inclination to see all the beautiful things my land contains (and there are incredibly beautiful things only seen off the beaten path), someone, someday with most likely fall into this pit.
So thinking ahead I set up alarms and cameras so I know when someone has fallen into this terrible place.
I have total knowledge of what is going on in the pit.
So one day the alarms go off and someone has fallen in and I can hear and see them suffering from their terrible fall.
Do I say through my intercom system to the pit - So sorry...you ignored the signs...I could help you, but it’s your own fault you are suffering right now, even if you were lead astray by someone else...doesn’t matter, you had plenty of chances to stay on the path or get back on it.
Doesn’t matter if you were never on the path to begin with, it was there for you to find, it’s your own fault you didn’t find the path I set out for you to safely cross my lands. (because some would never start on the path to begin with).
(You could even go so far as to say that each organized religion has beaten their own path through my land, sometimes on the path I originally made, sometimes going off in their own direction...but eventually all will bel funneled by the narrowing of the valley to the other side.)
I could continue to try and justify that person’s suffering, but it’s unjust in any circumstance.
I have the knowledge and the power over that person’s suffering, I have the ability to lift them from the pit and soothe their wounds, so why would I continue to let them suffer.
Even if someone were to run up to me...tell me I’m a fucking asshole and then jump into the pit - I STILL would not leave them there to suffer.
Because the moment their bones crunch they know what a horrible mistake that was.
And clearly, they are not thinking properly.
Does God hold schizophrenics who can’t take the voices anymore and shoot people accountable for their fucked up brain?
I don’t think so.
There is really no circumstance where I would just leave anyone there to suffer.
There is really no crime that can be committed that will not eventually reach a point in “eternal torture” in which their actions will be paid for, in an eternal setting the punishment will ultimately outweigh the crime, and will at that moment become unjust.
Besides that, we are functioning and making decisions with this knowledge obscured from us - shall we go off blind faith alone?
But also we wouldn’t need faith if we also were omniscient, we are not, that has always been THE question of questions - Why are we here? What is the meaning of life?
Punishing someone for being ignorant (by God’s own hand at that) is not just either.
That all directly contradicts the attributes given to God....loving, kind, just, fair, omniscient, but also omnipotent (having the power to end your suffering).
And organized religion is all very set up in the manner of - Worship me, or you will suffer for it.
That isn’t how religion should function imho.
Fear-mongering belief in people isn’t showing what I believe to be good and beautiful about spirituality and the wonders of our universe and reality.
Much love.

 

I went the other way. I started my spiritual journey as an atheist, then explored new age type ideas, then eastern religions and philosophies all while avoiding Christianity like the plague for many of the same reasons @Skarekrow brought up. Then I stumbled upon Christianity and rested.

@selcouth , to use Christian language, sometimes God brings people into our lives, not so we can be with them, but to open our eyes to our current way of life. These people, perhaps unwittingly, set about great changes within us and fill us with new life. They inspire us. They hold a mirror up to us and expose our faulty thinking. They help us realize that we're not living up to our potential. We grow quickly when we're with them, and then...they're gone.

 

I came from Christianity...My beliefs morphed as I realized there were more sources of Universal Truth and Wisdom out there

 

Yes.

 

People always seem to change words to their own liking. They rip down things that offend them. They create words that better serve them.
"I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Light; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me."

Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

 

Um, no, but...

I'm agnostic and loosely practice pagan tenets.
Why? Because pagan holidays and traditions were first, and the holidays are based on astronomy, weather patterns, seasons, and, often, survival.

Atheism is dominant where I live, and most people I know are atheist or agnostic. It is expected that people are atheist and being Christian is viewed as naive. Here, people worship science.

Part of my family was Christian, the other 'spiritual agnostic'. A series of events and behaviors drove me away from Christianity from an early age. I can't remember ever believing Christianity was true, even when I was very little and believed in god as defined by Christianity. My intellectual father and I bonded over studying mythology and world religions (-same thing, one person's god is another person's myth), so I became interested in pagan holidays.

 

I have always been agnostic.

 

"On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand..."

Sound negative? I imagine it would to some folk. It states where I stand. I do not fear the things that have no affect on me.

 

I think there are excellent forms of Christianity. I am a fan of the Catholic and Orthodox traditions.

There's a lot to be learned from organized religion. People can get a lot done with structure.

 

But do you worship crystals through yoga???

Anywho. I was into the occult before I became a Christian. Now I'm basically agnostic. I had a lot of questions and people kept telling me to have faith. But that was the most difficult part about it. Just believing and not knowing. Now I just say, "I don't know."

 

I don't attend a place of worship at the moment. I'll join one in the future, at least to fit in for awhile. Do you?