The biggest irony I have discovered since reading the works of the mystics and Gnostics the last few years is in following the Christ right out of Christianity. This happens when you actually read the book most churches claim to believe in with an open mind, not taking everything too literally if you understand symbolism.

A world without end

When you read the Bible with a 1st century mindset you discover that all of God’s promises have been fulfilled during the time they were given. In more than one place in the book of Revelation it says “soon must come to pass.” Granted history does have a way of repeating itself so whatever happened during the 1st century can easily happen again now.

The earth never ends. But it seems to start over every 2000 years when man gets too corrupt. Don’t worry about Operation Depopulation. The righteous who follow The Way will always be “left behind” to repopulate. With over seven billion people, only a tiny fraction of us need to reproduce to keep humanity going.

Putting things in perspective

Life is not hard but the ways of the world are. This is why the Bible says true religion lays in not being corrupted by the world; aka overcoming it through faith in a Supreme being or higher power. Life is a gift though it doesn’t seem like it. If you are not attached to anything in the material world, then you hold it with an open hand. Then you are likely to be more generous and experience true divine wealth which is greater than money. (Money and wealth are not the same thing since the former is just a means to an end).

No such thing as balance: Just a right focus

You cannot balance the material and spiritual world because life is spiritual only. People claim they don’t have time to be spiritual but when you make time for what is important to you, life naturally balances itself out. They say there is no such thing as balance because if you are balanced, then you are poor. It is true that if you exercise self control and don’t overindulge you may look poor by the world’s standards.

So if God is good and is love, then why would people reject this “God”? The tree of life is resting in divine providence while the tree of knowledge is materialism. Ever wonder why knowledge is so endless and frustrating and causes anxiety and other mental health issues?

Welcome to the minority

Jesus said the road was narrow. Perhaps one benefit to overpopulation is we have more people following the Way than ever before, even if it’s only 20%. People are too attached to all life has to offer (which are not bad in an of themselves). Some people are merely just trying to keep up and don’t want to be ostracized by their peers (which is still attachment).

Also acknowledging the spiritual world promotes duality, which most people can’t handle. If there is good, there has to be evil. If there are rich people, then there will always be more poor people. Poverty is created when greedy people strive to become rich. There is nothing wrong with being rich is you use it to serve others, so we can’t judge “prosperity” preachers because there is an element of truth to it.

There is such a thing as freewill

Also most people have a determinist outlook on life, that is they believe we don’t have freewill and that everything is preordained. This led to Calvinism, believing that God only saves a few and damns the rest. The polar opposite is God will save all (universalism.

I guess you have to be spiritually enlightened to understand free will. Marriage is a union of the Divine with humanity. Earthly marriages represent this. Marriage takes two people consenting, so this way you can easily refute Calvinism.

If there is no free will, then there is no freedom. The theme of the New Testament is freedom; where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. To reject freedom is to reject God. To reject individuality in favor of collectivism is to reject freedom, which leads us to become more dependent on the group; this is why we are becoming more entrenched i socialism everywhere. Capitalism represents man’s freedom to exchange and isn’t entirely about money.

In closing, universalists, mystics and preterists think the Gospel of the Kingdom will be more appealing when you realize that hell and the second coming are man made myths to control people, while in actuality the religion will decline.

Final thoughts on what really matters

If God is so loving, why would so few seek it? Maybe the obvious answer is because we are too full of ourselves and would rather try to be God. This is the original sin. Every other “sin” just represents this. The only sin is lack of trust.

You don’t need a God for the Infinite to exist. “He” exists on “His” own. But true wisdom comes from reverence (the biblical meaning of fear) for the Divine. That wisdom will direct your path and lead us to make the right choices. God doesn’t want to control our lives. We are responsible for ourselves. He doesn’t need our worship, but worship is merely acknowledging the Divine and benefits us more than Him by keeping our lives in balance.

Love is salvation but without loving God first our love for ourselves and others will merely become a selfish attempt to make ourselves into a god.