Allowing God to clean our heads

When I thought that I had to do this job all on my own it felt hopeless. Because one of the first things that you realize when you decide to not let your thoughts run wild, is how hard it is to tame the mind. Luckily I have learned that I don’t have to do this all by myself. And I never have to be perfect. I don’t even have to beat myself up if I do a lousy job with it. As long as I do my best and let God be with me during the process. 

When I let God be with me, there are also certain things that I simply don’t want to have in my head. It might seem a little scary to know that God is listening to our thoughts. But he is and it’s a good thing. Because besides working as a motivator for not letting things into our heads that shouldn’t be there, he helps with the work. And here is actually the place where it’s easiest to notice God for most of us. When we make the conscious decision to open up to God, we will notice that things start to happen in our inner lives. And for some paradoxical reason, once we start noticing more of what is going on on the inside, we become more aware of what is going on on the outside. Then we may begin to notice how God also speaks to us through our experiences in the physical world.

Here is also another powerful reason why I finally embraced Christianity. Because it was first when I embraced Jesus as my savior that I started feeling powerful enough to not only clean out my bad behavior, but truly get rid of its mental roots. This has been a very noticeable change for me.

Having an unruly mind is just the predicament that most of us are in. Some, like me, more than others. We have filled our heads with so much junk throughout our lifetimes. We’ve allowed our thoughts to drift into places where they have no business being in. We’ve done nothing about it when we’ve noticed it. And we’ve watched, listened to, tasted and in general experienced things that mess up our emotions. Thing that numb us and distort our perception of ourselves, other people and the world. We’ve told ourselves that it’s no big deal. These things don’t seem to hurt us while they’re happening. So they must be okay. We are often really that stupid. I’ve often been this stupid, even if I try not to be nowadays. We think that just because it’s not painfully obvious right away that something is hurting us, there is no problem. Does this stance sound reasonable when seen in plain language?

If a memory is stuck in there it’s stuck in there. If a way of thinking gets reinforced enough it becomes a habitual way of thinking. And our habitual ways of thinking matter. Thoughts don’t just stay in our heads living their own lives, with no consequence for our being in the world. And everything that we feed our minds with affects our thoughts. All of the actions and all of the things we say have an effect on our thoughts. I would even go so far as to say that even what goes into our subconscious affects our thoughts. Many things don’t affect them that much. But if you say or do a thousand little things every day even small things matter. 

To state it clearly: it begins in our heads. But our thoughts, words and actions work together. And if we don’t bring conscious awareness into this synergy, we will turn our lives into prisons. And what I’ve noticed is that I can’t do this on my own. I need God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. God and godliness is my goal. Jesus is my standard. And the Holy Spirit is my guide. All three are always with me, always on my side, love me and all three need to be invited into my life. All three need to be allowed to do what I cannot do on my own. I need to know what I can about the disease. I have to do my part in changing what my lifestyle. But in the end it’s the doctor that must operate on me.

Another problem is that when we try not to think of something, we end up thinking of that very thing. The solution to this problem seems to be to fill our minds with something else. So what should we fill our minds with? And how much personal responsibility do we have when it comes to this? That is, where do we let go and let God? This is something that I’m not entirely sure of. But I believe that this is different from person to person. The more we can learn about how we and the world function, the better it is. Because we are living in very extraordinary times and there are many that wish to manipulate and deceive us. But the minimum requirement is just that we put our lives in God’s, Jesus’ and the Holy Spirit’s hands and that we firmly reject what our authorities try to coerce us into.

Because whatever may have been true in the past, our real rulers, those that pull the strings of our elected rulers, do not follow the principles of God. Their principles are ones of lies, deception, manipulation and coercion. You can fill in the rest when it comes to who they serve.

We do so many things unconsciously, until we feel that tap on the shoulder. Then our eyes suddenly open more and more to the situation that we are in. What we’ve allowed into our lives and what forces we thereby have given our consent to. How we’ve been lied to, manipulated and programmed. How we’ve lied to ourselves and explained things away: “It’s no big deal.” But it is. Anything that serves to corrupt us is a big deal. 

In my past, I used to be the king of corruption. You see, throughout my life, I’ve treated my mind like a garbage can. And as I said, everything that we don’t completely forget can pop into our memories at any given moment. This is not something that we should beat ourselves up because of. We are all in the same predicament. What we need to do is to ask God to gently remove our dirt and do our best to allow him to do this. It means for example to not dwell on loveless thoughts if we can help it. Sometimes we just can’t help ourselves. But when we can, we do our best to change the content of our minds. We fail over and over again. But even though we aim at perfection, the point is not to actually reach it. This type of goal setting does not work that way. In Christianity we set up an impossible standard, knowing that it is an impossible standard. We do this for several reasons. We do it because this will help us to be the best that we can be. We do it to learn to rely on something/someone greater than ourselves. And we do it because it’s humbling to do so.

No matter how weak our wills are, the intention has to be ours. And it has to be as clear as possible. My intention is as follows: “I want every loveless thought, memory and emotion to be cleansed from my mind.” I am going to do my best to seek God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in every waking moment of my life. In my past I have done and thought much that has not honored God. This is something that I now wish to change. I want to truly put God at the centre of my life. I don’t want this to just be empty words, but my lived reality. And I am going to do everything in my power to stay true to this commitment, while knowing that I am a deeply flawed human being who will inevitably fail over and over again. But when I fail I will get up. I will not stop trying and I will not stop asking God to make me clean and whole. 

God help us all in this dark, sorry state that we’ve allowed ourselves to be sucked into. Do not allow us to lose our hopes, but renew our hearts, minds and spirits. Let us be the best that we can be, so that we can stand strong and confident when we face the storms of these troubled times.

Photo by Adrien Converse on Unsplash

Christianity is NOT the oppressive political religion of the DARK AGES

Jesus was the most kind, loving, peaceful and compassionate person that has ever lived. He was also a person that spoke out against worldly authorities. So how could Christianity turn into a political power that oppressed and killed people for over a thousand years? If you just open and read the Bible, it’s pretty clear that this was not what Jesus intended. That it’s not something that Jesus approves of.

One explanation is of course that almost no one, except a very small religious elite, could open and read the Bible at the time when this took place. That fallen humans in a fallen world decided to use their monopoly on biblical truth for their own gains. Many undoubtedly didn’t understand that this was what they were doing. Because the capacity for self-deception, especially among intellectuals, is endless.

Christianity was first adopted as a state religion by Armenia 301 A.D. But it was because of the emperor Constantine and the Roman empire that Christianity got a foothold as a political religion. 

As far as I’m concerned, it’s obvious that turning Christianity into a political religion went directly against the message of Jesus and the word of God. Instead of being a force for peace and liberation, it became the opposite: a force for violence and oppression. Anyone that opens the Bible and reads about Jesus will see how totally incompatible this is with what he stood for. “…the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32) is one of the most famous Jesus quotes from the Bible. If we instead get tyranny and oppression, can it really be the truth that Jesus talked about?

This does not mean that I believe that Catholicism today is bad. I neither find Catholicism nor Protestantism all bad or all good. The Catholics that I’ve met or know of seem to be good people and there are many things that I appreciate about Catholicism. Among many other things, I appreciate the colorful liturgy of Catholicism, that speak much more to the emotions than the one in protestantism. I think that this fills a deep need within humans. We need to have our emotions stirred in one way or another to keep our faith alive. This can often come from within, but there is no guarantee that it does. 

I also think that the institutionalized confession of sins fills an important function. This is because something happens to us when we tell someone about our wrongdoings. And the knowledge that we eventually will have to tell someone about our actions is a powerful deterrent for many of us. Not all of us, since some seem to use confession as a license to sin. But even though I have no proof of this, I would bet such a person would sin no matter what.

Catholicism has also, even in the Middle Ages, given birth to many wonderful theologians and mystics, such as Thomas Aquinas and Julian of Norwich. 

But what is most relevant for this discussion, is that I believe that in spite of the medieval corruption, God in the end managed to turn the corruption into something good. On many levels. In fact, God turning something evil into good is a core theme of the Bible. All the way from the initial corruption, to Jesus’ death on the cross, to when he will come back to finally make everything right forever. 

This does not mean that I condone the horrors that have been done in the name of religion. Neither do I believe that it somehow was necessary. What I believe that this has to do with, is our free will and the fact that we live in a fallen world. Now please bear with me, because this will be a somewhat lengthy discussion. I hope that I can tie it all together towards the end, in a way that is not entirely unsatisfying.

The kind of Christianity that needs manipulation and coercion to flourish is not true Christianity. From a secular perspective it would make sense that in order to grow, Christianity needs worldly powers. From a secular perspective you either have to argue, manipulate or coerce if you want others to adopt your message. But Christianity, true Christianity, needs only its truth to carry it. 

Why am I saying that Christianity only needs its truth to carry it? I’ve studied many religious teachings throughout my life. But it’s only the message of Christ, understood correctly, that has never failed to lead me where I want to go. Many other teachings seem more reasonable on the surface. But when scrutinized and applied to real life, they fall apart. And I’ve seen this in so many other people. But it’s hard to admit to oneself that something that we’ve put much time and energy into haven’t given the results that we’ve hoped for. 

When it comes to the Bible it’s the other way around. What on the surface might seem unreasonable, reveals its correctness when it’s studied more carefully, understood and applied. This is something that I will come back to over and over again. The need to understand the Bible in light of what Jesus taught and stood for. How it is undeniably clear that this is the way the Bible is intended to be understood. And that the Bible cannot be blamed when people choose to view it differently. Even though they should, and often do, know better.

In this context I feel the need to mention something. Namely that the Bible is a book whose message is continually being revealed. It contains numerous passages whose meaning no one fully understands yet. But I believe that we are living in times where much that was priorly hidden is about to be revealed.

Furthermore, the Bible has never failed to provide a correct analysis of the state of the world and of our existences as human beings. Furthermore, Christianity, true Christianity as it is taught by Jesus, works. It creates a change in people’s hearts that leads to peace, prosperity, humility, kindness and so on. When people understand the core truths of the message of Jesus and take them to heart, they cannot avoid becoming better people.

This is the intellectual “why?” when it comes to my beliefs. At least part of it.

Christianity is the only teaching that has offered me true peace, joy and hope in my, for the majority of my time here on earth, rather chaotic life. It has offered meaning and a sense of coherence. This is something that I especially value in the times of chaos and fragmentation that we are living in right now. It offers a hope and meaning that I truly feel that I can rely upon no matter how dark the world gets. No matter what happens to me on a personal level.

This is part of my emotional “why?”. 

I’ve had an abundance of personal experiences that have pointed towards its truth. I’m not going to elaborate on this. But if I call this the spiritual “why?”, you might get a clue of what I’m talking about. I believe that, in the times that we are living in, this side will become more prevalent among more and more people. Because Christianity was never meant as a set of rules to be followed. It was meant to come alive on the inside. And when it does, we will find many reasons to believe that are just meant for us. As the world grows darker, more and more people will find that a light is growing within them.

My point is that I’ve been so thoroughly convinced of the message of the Bible, that I have to simply accept the parts that I cannot comprehend. This is something that I feel called to share so that others may also see and understand the things that I have seen and understood. See and understand that God has something infinitely more valuable to give you, than what our fallen, broken world has to offer.

Among the things that I cannot comprehend is the fall. Some time in the past the world fell. And for some reason God could not just snap his fingers and restore the world to the state before the fall. For some reason, this restoration had to take time. And for some reason it had to be centered around Jesus’ death on the cross. For some reason this death had to happen to atone for the sins of humanity. So, it’s pretty clear how this plays out and why on one level. But why did it have to happen in this particular way? Why couldn’t God, who is almighty, just restore the world without all the may years of death and suffering? I don’t know. But I do know a few things. I know that my intellect is limited, while God’s is unlimited. I know that which I stated in the prior discussion. I know it to such a degree that I’m willing to bet my life on it. I know that I don’t have to understand everything. And I have humility enough to admit that just because I cannot understand something does not mean that it cannot be true. 

I know that the last paragraph is not a popular one in this era of intellectual pride, where we feel that the human intellect must be able comprehend everything. That referring to the limits of human reasoning is often seen as a cop-out. But what else can you say when you cannot understand the logic of the most central pieces of a puzzle, where all of the pieces fit together in an undeniable way?

All of these things taken together amount, for me, to the necessity of taking a leap of faith. A leap of faith with regard to the things that I don’t understand. To put my trust in Jesus and that he was exactly the person that the Bible says that he was. And that he did exactly what the Bible says that he did. 

What I want to say with the rather lengthy discussion, is that none of it rules out that God used a faulty institution in service of a higher good. It also does not mean that things couldn’t have played out another way. On the contrary, if we add free will into the equation, things could have probably played out in an infinite number of ways. What cannot be altered is just the end goal of God’s plan. It is written out in clear language in the Book of Revelation. And the signs of the end is drawing near (wars, rumors of war, famine, godlessness, idolatry, rampant sexual immorality, a legion of false prophets, the rise of a one satanic world government etcetera) are written out clearly in that book. And in the gospels and letters of the New Testament. But in the end “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away (Revelation 21:4).

The discussion above does also in no way give legitimacy to the actions of the corrupt institution. That God can use evil to do good does not make evil good. But free will in a fallen world implies corruption, power hunger, greed and all of the other human vices that plague the our lives today. 

If you’ve understood the discussion of this post, how can you blame Christianity for the evils that has been done in its name? The Bible and Jesus are central to the whole of the Christian faith. Nothing that runs contrary to the Bible, as understood through Jesus, can be true Christianity. This is not some arbitrary standard. This is the foundation that the whole of Christianity rests on.

If actions taken in the name of Christian faith blatantly run contrary to the message of Jesus and the Bible, how can they be seen as expressions of true Christianity? Christianity has grown ever more peaceful, as its message has become more and more known to more and more people. Let me repeat and rephrase this: The more people learn what the Bible actually says, the better its fruits become. And when we try to understand what the Bible actually says, we always need to start with the life and message of Jesus. This is important. All of the rest of scripture has to be read using Jesus as a lense. This is so abundantly clear that a child can understand it. And if Jesus wouldn’t have approved of something done in his name, it clearly cannot be true Christianity.

Freedom in God or slavery to the world?

Do you want to be completely free to make your own choices, with no one ruling over you? I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you, but that option is not available. You may think that it is. It most probably seems that way. But it isn’t. At least this is what I believe and I believe that I have good reasons for my belief. 

Here is the conclusion that this blog post is about written in as plain language as I’m capable of: As far as I can tell, the only options we have are to either choose God’s will freely or being enslaved by the world. 

How could it be otherwise? If God is infinitely more wise than we are, always wants what’s best for us. And we, on the other hand, are capable of infinite depths of self-deception. This capacity for self-deception is part of what it means to live in a fallen state.

As with so many things, I was blind to what was in front of me for most of my life. For most of my life I’ve lived in a very confused state. To a certain degree, one that is far from negligible, I still do. But the more I let God’s will guide my life, the clearer things seem to become.

When I finally started to see the state that I was in, I had ran into one dead end after another without even realizing it. I was thoroughly convinced of my ability to make it on my own and live according to “my” will. “I make my own rules” and all that crap. So much so that I became blind to everything that didn’t work in my life. To all of the dead ends that I kept running into. I thought that I was in control, but the chaos in my life told a different story.

I’m giving you a somewhat simplified version of what happened here. If you go back far enough in my life, you will find a person who completely let his animal side rule over him. At that time, I didn’t reflect much upon my behavior at all. I had to at least care about living a good life, to realize how hard it is to do so while having no firm guidelines. And while still trying to pursue my ego’s wants, wishes, goals and desires. Let alone starting to discern what comes from the ego and what comes from that which is true inside of me. In other words what comes from the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

I would say that what got the ball rolling was that I found a certain peace in the Bible and Christianity. I honestly don’t remember exactly where I felt it first, but it was a few years ago. Back then I didn’t know really what Christianity was. So the most I had to go on was a feeling. I had read the Bible and some of the mystics. But the message had not sunk in in a way that made the faith really come alive on a personal level. In my day to day life. And quite frankly, other types of spirituality seemed more exciting. So after a while I started drifting.

Here I feel the need to interject that if Christianity doesn’t excite you, you need to go deeper into it. Invite the Holy Spirit in. Once you’ve been touched by the Holy Spirit you will have all the excitement that you need.

Anyway… At some point, probably a few years after the initial encounter with God’s peace I started noticing that Christianity and the Bible seemed to bring some distance between me and the financial hardships that me and my wife were facing. They didn’t seem to matter as much when I really felt that I had God and Jesus to lean on. I also experienced more of the peace that I just mentioned. 

At the place where I am right now, I’ve found an intellectual understanding of why, which was something that I lacked when this journey started. This intellectual understanding is growing every day.

My blogging has helped me to gain more clarity, even though I wasn’t completely blind to my situation when I started. A funny thing is that God more or less told me to start this blog. And even though I haven’t had much success with it, writing down my experiences and thoughts about them have been a huge help for me. What priorly was an incoherent mess started to become ordered. Patterns emerged. And from these patterns followed insights. Some insights have been personal. Others have seemed more universal. 

Why can’t I have things simply “my” way? Because when I say “my” way I really mean “my ego’s way”. And my ego is inevitably and undeniably slave to my lower nature. To my animal instincts. And the animal instincts are ruled by cause and effect. The world provides a stimulus and I react. Just like animals do. And so I fall victim to temptation over and over again. And today the world produces so much stimulus.

The more I live according to my own rules, the more frustrated and helpless I feel. The more I surrendered to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the more happy, light and free I feel. 

In light of what I just said, telling myself that I’m free while living in the sorry state of “my” will, is the worst kind of self-deception possible. “My” will will always have me chasing after the wind. My ego tells me that I want empty gratification of the senses, admiration, success, be looked upon as smart, insightful etcetera. This while I really know that the only road to joy and peace is to live close to God and focus on what God says is important.

The Bible is pretty clear on what will give me happiness, peace, joy etcetera: Loving God. Loving my neighbor such as myself. Non-judgment. Stay faithful to my wife and loved-ones. Not worrying so much about the troubles of this world, but instead keeping my eye on the eternal. Being humble and letting go of pride. And so on.

Learning to live this way takes time though. Especially if you, like me, have a lot of baggage.

The thing with the Bible is that the more you study it and see your life through it, the more it starts to make sense. The more I study the Bible, the more the line “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19) makes sense.

By looking inwardly I’ve learned a few things. I have several wills inside of me that compete with each other. Sometimes I decide on one thing. But then I talk myself into justifying the opposite. Not because of some new information. But because I argue myself into believing something else. Most of the time something that is in line with my lower nature and more instant gratification. And then I realize that I suffer because of it - or make other people suffer sometimes - and so I’m back to my original intent.

And so it goes. Even though I know this, I keep falling into the same traps over and over again.

No matter what school of psychology you look at it from, whether it’s psychoanalysis, neurology, cognitive psychology or behaviorism, you arrive at the same conclusion. We are not in control of ourselves. We usually don’t know exactly what we want or why we want it. And if we do, the reasons are probably not what we tell ourselves. And our emotions, habits, irrational desires and all of the things in the world that prey on them cause us to act in all kinds of strange manners. Manners that we explain away afterwards, because of some strange need for things to make sense when they really don’t. 

It may take a while if you haven’t understood this yet. But if you search and study these things with an open mind, you can not fail to realize that there is a God, and that this is a personal God. You will also realize that there is some sort of spiritual reality and that there is a divine order to things, ordained by God. 

In light of the above, we have a choice to make. Do we want to continue following our own wills and ge trapped by the world? Or do we freely want to submit our wills to God’s will? The God who loves us, always wants what’s best for us and is infinitely wise and powerful. 

If we realize that this might be something worth doing, we do it, once we’ve found God, by reading God’s word and works by those that try to help us understand it. And last, but certainly not least, we do it by asking God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit to guide us. 

Photo by Rafael De Nadai on Unsplash

You are loved and your life matters!

Your life is not a brief series of random, meaningless events before absolute oblivion. Your life means something. It is not meant to be squandered on pontless distractions and pleasures. No matter where you are or who you are, you are important. You are important to God and you are important to the world. Your choices and actions matter. 

In the past, we may have had to take up real swords to fight living, physical enemies. But today the sword is proverbial. And the war is against meaningless amusements, empty pleasures, addictions and corrupt values. 

You may think that I’m exaggerating here, but I’m not. Because this is a battle for our bodies and minds. And these things kill our spirits. 

To top it all off we did not get to where we are by accident. To a place where we’re surrounded by tools for self-destruction every minute of every hour of every day. This is by design.

No one is going to praise us for taking up this fight. But praise is not the reason why we do what we do. The point is not to be recognized as such or not by others. But those of us that refuse to just mindlessly go along with whatever degeneration our culture offers are heroes. Because it takes strength to go up against all that is preying on our lower natures. It takes courage to go against the cultural norms. And it takes determination to stick to our resolutions.

Best of all is that in this story everyone can be a hero. It doesn’t matter who you are when or where your particular journey ends. All that matters is that you start the journey and keep on walking. God will take care of the rest. And he has the rest of eternity to make you perfect. 

I know that it’s so easy to give in. But whatever you put on the table God and his Holy Spirit can work with that. This is not some airy fairy “is this real or just in my imagination”. You will have real spiritual powers coming to your aid. If you’ve sunk deep in the habit of being distracted you may not notice it at first. But they are there to help you. Eventually things will start to fall into place. Eventually life will not feel so random anymore.

I’m not sitting on some high horse talking down to you from a place of perfection and enlightenment. Just like many other people I’ve made a mess of a lot of things in my life. A mess of bad habits and financial troubles. A mess that I’m still stuck cleaning up. 

The world makes it easy for us to mess up. But this does not take away my, or anyone else’s personal responsibility. No one put a gun to our heads and forced us to mess up our lives. However, as I’ve already stated, I believe that there are people (and perhaps other forces) that want us to be bound to our messes because it benefits them. When the scales fall from our eyes, we will inevitably see all of the things that are there to enslave us. And to me at least, it is obvious that we didn’t get here by accident. 

But it is still our lack of consciousness that allows it to happen. We are still the ones allowing circumstances and our reactions to them to make the choices for us. Our controllers just provide the temptations. We are the ones that are careless with our thoughts, words and actions. They just prey on our carelessness. We are the ones that don’t keep God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit firmly in our minds. Those that want to hurt us just fill up the empty space.

Our past mistakes don’t have to be a waste. It is a cliché to talk about learning from our mistakes. But as with basically all clichés, it contains a lot of wisdom. Because how often don’t we just beat ourselves up for our mistakes without learning anything from them? But when we instead take a step back and try to figure out what went wrong, growth can come pretty fast.

And remember, when you decide to take your power back and say no you have unstoppable powers on your side. God, his son Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit are there to help you. The almighty, triune, all-loving creator of the universe is on your side. These are not just empty words. It is the truth. You just have to let them in.

Those that want to hurt us tell us that life has no meaning. That we are a problem and even a cancer on the planet. That the world is full of useless people. Such ideas are the real cancer. 

The lack of meaning is one of the major sources of the difficulties that many of us face. The lack of meaning causes many to just grasp for whatever little momentary pleasure that they can get their hands on, with no concern for the future. This is why ideas matter. Why world views matter. They shape our thoughts, words and action. These nihilistic, misanthropic ideas turn “cancer on the planet” into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because what is the point of trying if we’re just destined for oblivion in a meaningless world? A world that is just getting worse and worse, with no real real hope on the horizon. Where the best we can hope for is painful solutions that may or may not solve our problems. In such a world it would be very tempting to say: “Let’s just party till the lights go out.” 

This is not my vision. It is not God’s vision either. So do your best, work with what you’ve got and never lose your hope. An infinitely better future is on the horizon. One where no one is superfluous or useless. One where everyone, regardless of who they are, matter. 

You are loved, deeply cared for and your life matters!

Frame photo by Susan Wilkinson on Unsplash

Life-choices, love, lovelessness, good, evil

God is love. Whenever we act in a loveless manner we shut God out. We move a little further away from God. Of course we don’t know that this is what we are doing. But if we pay attention to how we feel inside we notice that something just doesn’t feel right. We might discover feelings such as sadness and anxiousness.

Before I go on, I want to pause to give you a picture of what I am talking about. My wife likes to bake sweets. She makes delicious cupcakes and apple pie among other things. She loves to make these things for me, for her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend and friends. And of course for herself as well. For us. 

I also have the option of going to the store and buy a very delicious chocolate bar, made by huge, shining machines in a huge factory. My wife’s apple pie or cupcakes may contain somewhere around five ingredients. The chocolate bar may contain thirty ingredients, all carefully selected to make it as profitable as possible. And to make my inner caveman go nuts and just mindlessly munch it down without really thinking of what I’m doing. Many of these ingredients I have to look up online to find out exactly what they are.

See the difference? My animal instincts don’t, but I sure do. 

If I’ve gorged on processed, mass-produced junk long enough, my tastebuds might even prefer it over that which is made with love and care by a person. 

As I said in the first paragraph, we often don’t notice when love is missing. We are often so out of touch with ourselves that we don’t even notice that we feel bad. That something inside of us protests. That it is signalling that something is wrong. Because the world is so filled with things that keep us occupied. That pull us away from our direct experience of life. This is by design.

But when someone points this out to us and we understand it, we can’t help but notice it. What was priorly invisible to us suddenly is everywhere (We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one [1 John 5:19]). This is similar to “good and evil” or why not the Freudian “eros and thanatos”. This is how we label in a good way. Not to become narrow minded or dismiss people that are different from us, but to more easily understand the world and our being in it. To deepen this understanding. In this case so that we can avoid what hurts us, others and our relationship with God. And why it is to be avoided. 

Before I move on, I want to add a little disclaimer. What I’m about to say is not meant to shame anyone. I know how hard it is to break habits and I still struggle with quite a few myself. I even up to quite recently bought mass-produced food and ate too much of it and I still have a problem with over-eating sometimes. 

It is when we stop trying, even though we have the strength to do so, that we let evil take a hold on us. God only gives us more than we can handle if it serves some higher purpose. Never to just make us feel bad about ourselves.

That being said… It is obvious that when we treat others with compassion, kindness and the likes we act in a loving manner. And it is also obvious that when we treat others as mere objects to be exploited for our gain, pleasure or entertainment, or when we downright hurt and condemn others, we act in a loveless manner. 

But when we pay for mass produced trash that poisons our bodies, we are also acting in a loveless manner. Because there is no love towards ourselves in the act. And there is no love for the consumer in the production. 

When we watch pornography or mindless entertainment that poison our minds and souls with destructive values or fuel our instincts with perversion, we act in a loveless manner. And the same goes for the values we take in via music.

“Aren’t we supposed to have any fun?” you might ask. 

Well, go ahead and have as much “fun” as you want. I believe that it is your absolute right to destroy yourself and I would never dream of trying to stop you from doing so. As long as you don’t directly hurt others with your actions, in my view, you should be allowed to do whatever you may please by worldly authorities. 

But maybe, just maybe, there is something infinitely better that that opens up to us when we exercise a bit of discernment. Maybe the comparison between gold and mud does not even begin to describe what we gain by removing that which is loveless from our lives. 

Believe me, there is a whole world waiting for you, right here and right now, filled with love, truth and beauty, once you start removing that which is hurting you from your life. The choice is easy once you see it with clear eyes. It is a choice between love and lovelessness, eros and thanatos, good and evil, happiness and dispair. It isn’t more complicated than that. It never was. Allow the scales to fall from your eyes and you will see it too.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Worldly "wisdom" or faith in God - A perspective on the current state of the world

In 1 Corinthians 3:19 st. Paul says: “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.” 

What I want to talk about in this blog post, is the hope that is available to us in these troubled times. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). God has promised that he will “wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

In other words, God has promised to restore the world and take away all that which causes us pain. If you believe in the truth of the Bible, this is also something that you must believe in. No matter how dark it seems on the outside, there will come a turning point, even if we don’t know exactly when or how. And for more and more people every day, there is a light inside that burns ever more bright as the world grows darker. A tangible, unquestionable light, whose strength is intimately connected with our surrender to God.

An atheist bus campaign had the following to say a few years ago: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." Some of the world’s most influential intellectuals stood behind the campaign.

What I have learned is that what seems to be a good idea from the human intellect’s perspective, often does not turn out so good when put into practice. When we stop worrying and enjoy life, life tends to become neither worry-free nor enjoyable for most of us. For some it does. But not for most of us. And even for those that it does, tragedy can strike at any moment and when it does, unless we have God in our life, senseless pain with no hope of restoration is the only available option. 

I realize that if this is how the world truly is, we can do nothing but swallow the bitter pill and cope with it to the best of our ability. But today I know this belief to be false, which is a source of great hope and joy in the midst of the crisises that we are facing today. I can’t say that it will happen this way for everyone, but for me all it took was to open up to the possibility that God exists, a little less than twenty years go. God took care of the rest.

If you look at what the world teaches us about anything from sex, to interpersonal relations, to consumer habits and what we should focus on and prioritize, it seems pretty reasonable on the surface. But in practice it is utterly unnatural, makes us unhappy and unfulfilled. Many are starting to see through this now. What has been known for a long time within the domain of religion and spirituality, is more and more confirmed by psychological research.

Those that haven’t met me since my teens and early twenties would not recognize me today. For most of my life from mid adolescence up until I found my faith, I had this feeling that who I am is not really me. That if I chose a completely different identity tomorrow, that identity would be no less me than the one today. This could also be worth thinking about in the identity-obsessed culture of today.

I don’t feel the way that I just described anymore though. My identity as a believer in God, as spiritual, and today also as a Christian, was the first part of my whole identity that felt true. That didn’t feel completely arbitrary. That wasn’t permeated by meaninglessness lack of seriousness. 

At the time I told myself that I was pretty content with what can ultimately be boiled down to a nihilistic view of life and the world. I embraced the belief that if I died tomorrow, nothing would matter anymore as far as I was concerned. Zero responsibility and zero consequences. 

Now I’ve learned that what we tell ourselves is very often very far from the truth. But we tend to forget that the concept of “lying to ourselves” actually means something. If we think of it at all, we often tend to think that it is an activity that others engage in, but that we somehow are exempt from. 

Back then I engaged in many behaviors that hurt me and others. Behaviors that from a materialist perspective seemed harmless and completely acceptable. It took years to see the damage that they had caused. I thank God that he didn’t leave me in this sorry state. That he instead not only showed me where I had gone astray, but also showed me something infinitely better than the empty gratifications that I was seeking in the world.

As what the world has to offer becomes more and more hollow, costly and painful, the choice should become more and more easy to make. And once you’ve tasted just a little of what God has to offer, you will scoff at the fruits of the world if they cause you to disobey God. And this is what you need to do. What all of us need to do. Obey God. It’s either that or slavery to the world. God never forces his will upon us. Neither does he try to manipulate us into doing his will. Coercion and manipulation are the ways of the world. And God only wants us to do what is best for us. What brings us closer to him.

I’m a perfect example of this. I was so lost in wanting to have my own will, that I didn’t see how enslaved my stubbornness was making me. And I truly managed to convince myself that my lifestyle was making me happy, free and emancipated. 

If you are still seeking happiness in the ways of the world you may think that I’m fooling myself now. That I was more true to myself before. This something that I’ve noticed when I’ve spoken or listened to many atheists over the years. That even though I feel much better in every way today, they still believe that I’m somehow missing out on life. But to me it’s overwhelmingly clear - when I was having “my” way I wasn’t free at all. But the more I surrender, the freer, happier, more alive and liberated I feel. 

The funny thing is that when I enjoy the fruits of the world in the way God intended, everything feels and tastes much better. When God is allowed to permeate my senses, all of my experiences become so much more colorful, vivid, delightful and beautiful. 

If you want one big takeaway from the Old Testament it is this: stray from the path that God has laid out for you and you will be the victim of the forces of this world. Follow the path and things will go well for you. 

God wants to give us everything that is good for us in abundance. But in his time, in the right way and when we are ready for it. We were made to love God and to be loved by God. This is what is written into our hearts. This is a love that exists in each and everyone of us, from the lowest to the highest. It is a love that is always there, no matter how many layers of dirt that we have managed to bury it under. It is about opening up and let this love in. And we cannot do this when our thoughts, words and actions are loveless. Empty sensory gratification, for example, is by its very nature loveless. But as soon as we let go and let love in, there is no more doubt. This is not something that we have to strive for. It is not something that we need to accomplish. It is just a question of what drives our thoughts, words and actions. God will take care of the rest.

Photo by Randy Jacob on Unsplash