Don't be afraid

There is so much fear in the world right now. Have you noticed? It seems that there is just one threat or disaster after another. And everthing that we need in our day to day lives is getting more expensive.

First of all, it’s okay to be afraid. It’s understandable. No one is going to judge you because you are afraid. So you can relax. At least when it comes to this. But just know that you don’t have to be afraid.

We worry about the future of the planet, wars, the economy, our economy. All the way from the whole of humanity, down to us as individuals, we worry. Everything seems to be hitting us all at once.

I’m not going to say that this means one thing or the other. But doesn’t it all seem a bit odd?

Here’s a suggestion: Maybe it’s time that we who aspire to follow Christ start believing that we are taken care of? 

For me this entails that when it comes to problems of humanity that we don’t seem to be able to solve on our own, I decide to trust God instead. Trust that God will not just let the world perish. That God will never force that which is unacceptable on us in order to save the world or humanity. 

Knowing where I stand when it comes to this, will also help me draw a clear line when it comes to what political solutions I will never comply with.

If we don’t take a step back, just breathe and think about the fact that, in the end, everything is in God’s hands it’s easy to forget about joy. It’s easy to just react. Because this is what we’ve gotten used to. Make a panicked response to a stressful situation. Whether we do it as individuals or as a collective.

One major reason for this is that the default mode of our brains is to keep us safe. But that just won’t do anymore. We are on our way towards something new. Something where our egos and instincts can no longer guide us. Can you feel it? 

One thing that the Bible says, is that God has promised that in one way or another, he will take care of us. He has not said that everything is going to be easy or even that our survival, on an individual level in this physical body, is guaranteed. But he has promised that he won’t let the world go under until the end times. And even the end times may suggest a more symbolic interpretation. 

Now, those that want to control us want to keep us in a fearful state. Because it’s easier to get fearful people that are deprived of hope and meaningfulness to hand over their power.

So if you really want to stick it to the man so to speak, the only way forward is to learn not to respond in a negative, fearful manner. To stay happy, hopeful and trusting even when the world tries to bring you down is the only way out. 

Therefore, to be joyful and happy is an act of defiance. To refuse to let our chaotic world upset our balance. To choose to rely on God and on that there is a plan. Isn’t that great? The way that we fight back is by choosing happiness and embracing the positive aspects of life.

I know that it’s not always easy. Neither on a personal nor a global level. We might be struggling with one thing or the other on a personal level. And on a global level there are different things that grab hold of our attention in a way where we seem unable to stop thinking about them. Thus we worry. Thus we fall. Because we’ve learned a totally backwards way of functioning in the world. It’s not our fault. We have learned that this is the natural way of operating in the world. That it’s the only way.

Therefore, when we fall, we must realize that there is nothing wrong with us. We are not bad. We just haven’t learned that we have options.

If you don’t know where to start, I suggest that you start working on acceptance. This is a big step and I admit that, in it’s apparent simplicity and effortlessness, it’s often very difficult. Because we have a lot to unlearn and re-learn. But here’s the thing I want to stress over and over again: You are okay the way you are. You are okay the way you are. There is nothing wrong with you. You, just like me and everyone else, just lack the proper understanding. You don’t have to do anything about it. Everything is optional. You were created to love God and be loved by God. That’s it. Everything else is optional. You don’t have to do or be anything to deserve God’s love. And as long as we are ruled by our egos in any way, we are bound to make mistakes. It is what it is.

But once you can see yourself and your relationship with God, yourself, the world and the rest of humanity and everything else in a clearer light, maybe you can also start thinking of some logical steps that you want to take? Maybe you want to start prioritizing a bit? Or maybe you choose to do none of that, even though you know that you have a choice. God loves you either way though.

It’s so easy to get caught up in speculations about reality, religion and what all of this means, while ignoring the human condition. Which, ironically, is staring us straight in the face if we study what Jesus says. Sure, he mentions heaven, hell, prophecies and the likes. But all of this is open to interpretation. Many of his teachings regarding how to live and treat each other and ourselves are not however. They are often multi-faceted, but seldom difficult to understand.

We’ve been given a very complex machine to operate. A machine called the human body and brain.

Like any complex machine, the human brain and body have very specific ways of functioning. They have specific ways of interacting with their environment. Teaching how to do this is part of what I’m trying to do with my and my wife’s YouTube channel.

I furthermore suggest that you ask yourself the following question. What do we really know? I honestly don’t know the severity of the state of the world. I just know that I make the choice of trusting God rather than worldly authorities. And I make that choice every moment of every day. 

So, if you have a hard time not believing that we are not heading for a horrible, dystopian nightmare unless certain measures are taken, how much do you really know? Have you taken a careful look at the available data? Have you listened to those with an informed opinion that disagree with the views that are being presented in the mass media? Do journalists and politicians really deserve your trust? If you had someone that was continuously lying and manipulating you in your life, would you continue trusting that person? So why do that when it comes to politicians? What if it’s not out there in the world, but inside ourselves that the solutions lie? What if each and everyone of us will know what to do once we start looking in the right place?

The truth is that we might have to go through some hard times. But what’s in the future is very far from as certain as the doomsayers claim. And until we can work on cultivating a joyous spirit. The hard times will be easier then. 

Why Christianity?

Should we put our faith in God and put our lives in his hands? Or should we learn about the conditions that we live under to the best of our ability. Learn so that we can defend ourselves against those that want to hurt us through their knowledge about our psyches and how the world functions? 

I believe that this choice is an illusion. I believe that if we choose one and neglect the other, we will risk getting swept away by the storm that is coming. Because a storm is coming. And we’ve just felt the first tiny winds the past few years. But I believe that it’s a storm that brings with it lots of reasons to be hopeful. And hopefulness is really what this post is about. Because we can rest assured that God will carry us through whatever comes our way, in one way or another. It will probably not be the way we expect it. And for most of us, it will most certainly not be without hardships. But we are carried and when this life ends, we will be welcomed back into our heavenly father’s loving arms. 

At the same time, some of us feel called to learn more about ourselves, the world and how we are being manipulated by those that want to control us for their own selfish aims. I believe that the best foundation, if we want to stand strong, is to be found in the Bible. I know that many feel an instinctive resistance towards this idea. If you do, I want you to ask yourself why. Maybe Christianity conjures up images of dry, narrow-minded people that have left their intellects behind to “just believe”. This is the caricature that we are being fed. These types of people are the ones that we for the most part see in movies, on TV and in general everywhere mainstream. 

Before moving forward, I wish to interject that I think that there is much that we have yet to learn about Christianity. I think that Jesus taught many esoteric things and that understood correctly, Christianity is the most exciting spiritual belief out there. If you want an example, you can ponder the meaning of the following statement by Jesus: “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light” (Matthew 6:22, King James version).

Here is the thing: we are being fed a certain worldview through the mainstream, whether is’s through Hollywood, the music industry or the papers that we read. We are being taught to believe certain things. And the smarter we think that we are, the more susceptible we are to this. Because fundamentally we are not rational beings. Our minds don’t work the way we think that they do. Unless we consciously take a step back and question the information that is being presented to us, we tend to believe it unless it conflicts too much with our current beliefs. So if the shift takes place gradually towards a new belief, we won’t notice it. This is what a normalization process looks like. Things that would have been considered unthinkable a a few decades ago pass by unnoticed today. 

So, why the Bible? Because it tells us the truth about us and our relationship with God and the world. It tells us that God is a loving, personal God that cares for- and has a will for us. It gives us an ideal to follow in Jesus. Someone that both in his words and actions shows us who we should strive to be. It tells us who the Holy Spirit is, so that we can seek his guidance, which is an indispensable help when we try to find our way through this difficult life. He is also a really good friend. One that is always by our side, never lets us down and gives us a window into how it would feel to fully walk with God.

The Bible also clearly tells us about all of the traps that we can fall into and how to avoid them. Because the traps are the same today as 2000 years ago. Even though they are amplified and packaged differently. Nothing new under the sun.

Knowledge about these traps is in other words more needed than ever. Because the world is telling us that in order to be free, we need lots of sensory gratification. And it’s telling us this like never before. 

We need partying, things, sex and tasty food. We are free when we indulge in these things. We are shown that those that are happy, fun and joyful are those that follow their impulses. Those are the heroes of movies today. And those that don't are presented as boring and inhibited by outdated values.

Everywhere we are bombarded with calls to do just that. To give in and follow our impulses. Music and movies that a few decades ago would have been considered too extreme for anyone but a few, are today considered mainstream and is even consumed by children. And if you truly think that these things have no effect on us whatsoever, I don’t think that you have examined it carefully enough. We’ve been conditioned gradually to accept more and more things as normal.

To put it bluntly, the truly exciting things are happening on a spiritual plane. In our relationship with God. On the inside. And in the meeting with other people that are also on a spiritual/religious path. In the conversations we have and what we discover together. So we may abstain from partying and certain types of entertainment. But on the inside, a whole new world might be opening up instead. It is for me. And I know or know of many others that are experiencing the same thing. If friends leave us because we don’t want to take part in their self-destruction anymore, we’re probably better off without them. 

I would say that the bare minimum for making it through life, especially in these troubled times, is a belief in a personal God and an understanding of the basic morals of the Bible. If we have this, we have a solid foundation to stand on. Whatever else we decide to learn besides this will differ from person to person. It’s between us and God. 

I myself have chosen to try and learn as much as possible about religion, spirituality and human psychology. Because I want to be free from the invisible prison of the world. And I want to help others to free themselves. But no matter what I do when it comes to this, I know that I never have to stand alone. That whatever happens, everything is in God’s hands.

To me the leap of faith that I will conclude this post with, came as a necessary consequence of believing what the Bible teaches me about myself and the world. As I hope that I’ve shown, I’m not talking about the historical claims. I’m talking about the impossibility that the Bible could have come about as a result of the efforts of human minds alone.

For me, accepting Jesus as my lord and savior and to actually believe that he died on the cross to atone for my sins is the necessary consequence that I’m talking about. It has neither been proven to me, nor experienced on a personal level. At least not directly, even though you could say that I’ve received what could be called inner confirmations. Confirmations through sensations and shifts on the inside. But not until after I took the leap of faith. 

The leap of faith, as I’ve already stated, came as a result of seeing that what the Bible tells me about myself and how the world operates is absolutely true. And for it to be so, in this way, the hand of God must have been involved. And the more I’ve studied the Bible, the more I’ve seen this hand of God. Seen it through how everything fits together, in spite of so many writers. Seen it through how the symbolism works on so many levels. How prophecies have come true throughout the time span that the Bible was written. And how prophecies are coming true today one after another. How the prophecies fit together. And how they all fit into a greater narrative. Just to name a few things

The life, death and resurrection of Jesus stands at the centre of everything. Without this, everything else falls apart. I’ve been convinced about the truth of everything that I find relevant about the Bible. In such a way that I believe that God must have inspired it. And therefore I find no other choice than to also accept that Jesus Christ is exactly who he said that he is. And that he did exactly what the Bible says that he did.