The devil is real... part 2

So, whether the Devil is an actual being or not, we still have to do the same battle with him. I’m sure that there is a life after this one, in some way. But maybe we should focus on what we can do in this life, instead of worrying about punishments or rewards in the next. Maybe heaven and hell is a trap, that makes us more focused on what we can get our of the afterlife, instead of how we can improve and help others in this one.

Ask yourself this: if you know that there is a God and an afterlife, that God loves you and is infinitely wiser than you are, do you really need the promise of rewards and punishments to want to do his will? With the question posed this way, I think the answer is pretty simple.

The Devil is real... part 1

…at least in some way. Is the Devil is an actual entity or not? I don’t know. But he definitely lives inside of us in the form of the ego. He is the one that rather has us accuse others, than look at ourselves. The one that has us boasting about our accomplishments, instead of humbly thanking God for giving us strength and guidance. He is the one that makes us angry and frustrated about all the things that we don’t have, instead of being thankful for the things that we do have. And he is the one that makes us doubt that there is more to life than the brief time that we spend here on earth and therefore makes us believe that we need to take as much as possible before we die. 

Some thoughts about the movie The Unholy, part 2

To part 1.

For obvious reasons, I have a huge problem with the idea that God would have us guess what we’re supposed to believe in. Especially if God allows countless of very smart people and perhaps even supernatural beings that are much smarter than we are to use all they’ve got to deceive us. At least if beliefs matter to us and/or God in any way. Especially if, as some claim (I personally do not believe in the possibility of eternal damnation, even if I of course cannot be sure of that, or anything else), our ultimate destiny is dependent upon what we believe. 

I guess that we might be supposed to know in our hearts what to believe in. And maybe we will, once we’ve developed enough character. Maybe intuitive discernment comes with character. That is actually the only idea that makes sense to me, if we presuppose that what we believe matters, when it comes to matters that cannot be proven or disproven with facts and arguments. 

But until then? Should I walk around in fear of doing things against God’s will every time someone says that something is? This question is only half-rhetorical. Because there are things that I feel drawn to, that many say are against God’s will, that I also feel that there might be something not quite right with. Maybe a good middle way would be to stay away from those things until more clarity presents itself. And keep doing the things that I don’t feel this way about, also until more clarity presents itself. 

Because I do sort of believe in the whole “love/fear” dichotomy. Namely that we can ultimately live in either love or fear and that all our other emotions stem from one of those two fundamental emotions. From that standpoint, it doesn’t seem very reasonable to live in fear of what God might think of what I do. I would of course not regard this question as unimportant, since I do hold a very strong belief in that God is personal and has a will. But almost anything will be regarded as sinful by someone. And if we listen to all of those voices, we will definitely be dominated by fear.

So, to conclude, the most reasonable response that I can find, with regards to beliefs about right and wrong, is to exercise some caution and not engage in things that we suspect are against God’s will, but to not listen to every little fearful voice that tells us something is wrong either. After all, the benefit of choosing a middle way seems to be sort of built into the fabric of reality.

Some thoughts about the movie The Unholy Part 1

I watched the movie The Unholy the other day. It was an okay movie, with okay story, okay mood, decent editing and acting, but with crappy CGI and quite a few elements that felt like they didn’t hang together in a meaningful way. 

But this is not a review. It’s the movie’s essential theme that is interesting here. The theme is false prophets and false saviours. Since I felt sort of drawn to see this movie, and since it grabbed my attention in spit of being rather mediocre, maybe there was a point in me seeing it (I have more and more come to believe that nothing in our lives happen by accident. We are just usually not attentive enough to see that God constantly speaks to us). 

Another thing that is a little easier to miss about the movie, but which really is right there in front of us, that would be backed up by many passages in The Bible, is that just because someone is able to perform miracles, it does not mean that the miracles come from God. This, I think, is very significant. Because I think that this is an easy concept to grasp and even take to heart. But how many of us would not be easily swayed by something that we perceive as a genuine miracle, if we would encounter one? I know that for me, in my past it has taken even less. I’ve been close to adopt teachings because they have given me loads of insights as to how things work. And the more I’ve been impressed by their wisdom, the easier it has been for me to disregard the flaws and unsubstantiated claims of these teachings.

In the times we live in, there are many spiritual “truths” out there. I’ve spoken about this in other posts and I will probably keep talking about it till I find some more clarity.

And all truths cannot be true, unless there is no truth. And if there is no truth, at least that much is true. 

A side note that warrants several posts on its own, but that I will just briefly mention here, is that false prophets are part of the endtimes-prophecies of The Bible. And there are other contemporary things that seem to fit in uncomfortably with these prophecies as well. But this is, as I said, too big of a topic to be explored here. And it would call for much more research than I have time for at the moment. 

How can we really know what’s going on inside another person? How can we know if someone is wilfully trying to deceive us? Or if that person has him- or herself been deceived? There are frighteningly many factors that determine what we come to regard as truth, that have nothing to do with whether it’s true or not. For example: how we see ourselves - our identity, how attentive we are at any given moment, which emotional state that we are in and our opinion of the source, just to name a few irrelevant factors with regard to the actual truth, which are all factors that determine what beliefs we choose to adopt or discard.

The world isn't evil

 The world isn’t evil. The world is in pain. People aren’t evil. People are in pain.