A
previous post discussed the fact that a person can have a spirituality without
religion. This post will discuss how a
person can have a spirituality without religion. The steps enumerated here are suggested for
Christians only. There are similar or
parallel ways for members of other religions.
I cannot discuss for them in this post.
Step
1. Learn More of Jesus
As
you learn more and more of him, he will grow more and more in your mind and in
your spirit. Do not pin him down in a
statement. No statement can fully
express or describe him. He is always
far greater than we can think of.
What
happened in the early church was that church leaders were busy formulating
creeds to capture the essence of Jesus.
Thus we have the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian
Creed. These creeds made into a formula
the essence of Jesus, basically that he was true God and he was also true
man.
People
were taught these creeds and they were told to profess it, publicly every
Sunday. Eventually they got satisfied
with just professing these creeds. They
felt that by being orthodox, that is, following the correct doctrines about
Jesus they became true Christians.
Now
we realize that these creeds were a trap.
They lured us away from the ongoing, daily learning of Jesus, which is
the most essential task of a Christian, a disciple, that is a learner—which is
the meaning of disciple in the original Greek language—of Christ.
At
the time of the early church orthodoxy and orthopraxy (right conduct according
to church teachings) were the marks of a true Christian.
A
genuine Christian is first and foremost a disciple or learner of the Christ who
is Jesus. He learns more and more of
Jesus and he knows that this learning has no ending here on earth. He can always learn something more of Jesus. It is an ongoing, daily activity for a real
Christian.
That
is the first step for a Christian to become spiritual without religion, an
ongoing learning of the Christ.
Step
2. Talk with God Affectionately Always
Converse
with God as with a friend more and more often until you talk to him all the
time in your mind.
In
the early church the priesthood of the clergy and the veneration of the saints
developed. This was due partly to the
desire of the church leaders to give in to the pagan practices so that the
pagans would be attracted to the church.
As a result of this development people thought that the priests and the
saints could pray for them, talk to God for them.
Now
we realize that the emphasis on the priesthood of the clergy and the veneration
of saints was a trap. It got us away
from a daily intimate conversation with God himself. People forgot the injunction of Paul the
Apostle to pray always. Eventually they
got satisfied with attending the Mass or church services, saying the Rosary or
grace before meals and reciting the novenas or Bible memory verses.
A
true Christian is a child of God and as a child of God he is always in
communication with his Father God, day in and day out, 24 hours a day and 7
days a week.
This
is the second step in becoming spiritual without religion for a Christian,
always talking and listening to his Father God, to his brother Jesus, and to
his Spirit guide.
Step
3. Be More and More Compassionate
Towards All
Expand
your love of others: people, animals,
trees, so called inanimate objects such as rocks, soils, streams, chairs,
tables, etc.
In
the early church there was this movement to leave the sinful world and go to
the desert or monasteries to devote one's time for God in study, manual labor,
prayer and good works. The goal was to
become holy, to flee the contamination of the sinful world, and to be pleasing
to God so that the person would be saved after death.
Again
we know now that this was also a trap.
These Christians did not seem to hear the prayer of Jesus that they be
not taken from the world. Those Christians who fled the world eventually got
satisfied in living in the desert or monasteries doing all sorts of penances to
atone for their sins and the sins of others in imitation of Christ. And the ordinary people thought that these
were the ideal Christians. Since they
could not leave the world because of their families and businesses they were
satisfied to be counted second class rate Christians.
They
forgot that the essence of Christian practice is love of other people,
especially fellow Christians, not inflicting pain upon one's body and keeping
oneself busy with manual labor, study and formal, timed prayer.
The
real Christian loves people, animals, trees, the whole environment, even the
heavenly bodies trillions of light years away because these are creations of
his God. And this love grows because it
is a living love.
This
loving is the third step in becoming spiritual without religion for a
Christian.
Step
4. Be More and More Fully Available to
God’s Work for You
There
is work for you to do so that you can express more the power, goodness, wisdom,
beauty of the God inside you. Be more
and more available for this work.
In
the early church there were councils and these councils produced decrees which
later on were enshrined in laws eventually becoming part of the church's Code
of Canon Law. These decrees governed the
conduct of Christians and churches.
Now
we know that these decrees and the eventual canon laws were a trap in the life
of Christians and their churches.
Instead of fulfilling the commission Jesus left to his disciples, that
of immersing the nations in the transforming power of the life of the Father,
his Son and their Spirit, the church leaders became satisfied with the
implementation of the conciliar decrees and in making the commission a formula
in the valid administration of baptism.
Each
Christian has a part in the fulfilling of the commission of Jesus, whether it
is as lowly as washing dishes, or as high as preaching the Good News. And the only ones who know what this work is
are the Father God and the person to whom he has entrusted this work. That is why the genuine Christian discerns
what this work for him is and gives himself to it.
Whatever
that work is the long term overall objective is to imbue the nations of the
earth (not just individual persons but nations, for that is what the Gospel
says) with the very life of the most wise, most powerful and most good
God. If this commission were fulfilled
in each generation of Christians we would not have those countless wars among
so called Christian nations.
That
is the fourth step in becoming a Christian spiritual person without religion,
doing the work God has intended for him towards the fulfilling of Christ’s
commission.
Looking
back at history it is funny how Christians for hundreds of years fought over
terms like filioque (and from the son), over the number of the books of the
Bible whether 66 or 73, whether there were 2 or 7 sacraments, whether water
baptism was by sprinkling, pouring, or immersing in water, whether the bread in
communion is leavened or unleavened, etc.
Karl
Rahner once wrote that in the future all Christians will be mystics. We can paraphrase this by saying, In the
future genuine Christians will be spiritual without religion. After all their Master was such a man,
spiritual without the religion of Judaism. He called himself son of man, not
son of Judaism. He did not adhere to any doctrine because he himself was the truth. He did not observe a code of conduct because the
love of his Father was his code of conduct.
He did not observe a ritual because his life was the supreme ritual
acceptable to God. In fact he came to
give us life in all its fullness, not religion. He condemned the religious
leaders of his day as hypocrites, blind leaders leading blind followers to the
pit of destruction. His followers can do
no less.
for your spiritual growth
for your health
for learning about the new trends around us
for earning some income from the Internet
Here are your
links to download the e-books for FREE.
To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this
website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by
Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free
e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.
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