Is God mad at me because I go to yoga instead of church?
God and Man!
Is God mad at me because I go to yoga instead of church?
My soon to be ex-wife asked me this question a couple of days ago because, we began a serious commitment to Hot Yoga, also known as Bikram Yoga. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! It is Life Changing Stuff!
We stopped going to church years ago after a VERY Bad experience. My Wife and I went to a very small church located in Grapevine Texas called Grace Bible (http://wwwgracebible.net) In my opinion the church was abusive in the worst of ways. They used God, Hell and Damnation to motivate believers to their particular “Brand” of christianity. I did not particularly care for the taste it left in my mouth and found it to be, cold, hard, judgmental, angry and most of all . . . without hope.
It has been 5 years since that encounter, and I am still reeling in the hopelessness of legalism. It’s like I have my very own Personal Demonic Calvinistic Spirit who loudly whispers his subtle condemnation.
Bottom Line for me was, dont be vulnerable but you can talk bible all day! In other words. . . be religious!
Is God Mad at me?
According to Jonathan Edwards, God is definitely pissed! “He is pissed at you, he is pissed at me, He is fucking pissed at the ENTIRE WORLD”. According to Jonathan Edwards The Almighty God can hardly wait until he can cast you into ETERNAL TORMENT. He does not want to just KILL you but wants to see you in MISERY for ETERNITY!” Holy Shit! Just thinking about it Scares the shit out of me. “OK” “OK” God I will serve you out of nothing but FEAR! (Im being sarcastic)
Damn Getting to know God is definitely some deep Physchotherapy!
END
This is an ongoing blog and I will get back to it!
My Imaginary Friend
Many Years ago, I dreamed up a fictitious character. His name was Vincent. I imagined Vincent to be a deeply wise, good and decent person. I imagined him to be Jesus. Someone who loved and cared for me deeply, without strings attached. Please don’t misunderstand me, I was not in a state of delusion. I was playing a game of “what if”.
So I began writing letters to Vincent, basically whining and complaining of why things were not going my way. Then I would put myself into Vincents shoes and write a letter back to myself. I did this several times, and I found in doing this, it was very revealing and taught me to be kinder to my self.
I began thinking. . . in what way, and tone do we speak to ourselves? Condescending, Encouraging, Defeating, or do we even speak to our selves at all.
I believe Socrates said said it best:
” An unexamined life is not worth living”
The here and the now!
Living in the Now!
As many of you may know. My Mom 83 years old is getting married to a good man who is 86 years old. They are a very cute couple! Long and short of it is that I got a chance of getting to knowing Marvin on a personal basis. He has a website called “From Grandpa with Love”. I told him that it would be good for him to blog on a regular basis (Twice a week). Marvin politely replied “No, Maybe that is what you are supposed to do”. I truly appreciated this response because he was right and I started my very own blog.
I could be wrong about this!
Crash, Boom, Pow
I could be wrong about this ! But here it goes.
I am interested in not only what people think but how they they think ! The famed author Scott Peck wrote a book called The Road Less Travelled”. It was a life changer for me.
Because the book had such an impact on my life, I really wanted to know more about the author. He spoke with an incredible honesty, and I held him in high regard.
I read an obituary today about Scott Peck: he once said he had “the rare privilege of being able to give advice without having any responsibility”. Scott Peck was a man who seemed to be tormented. He had marital infidelities, divorced his wife and estranged from 2 of his children. His life was far from perfect. Not the type of person I would want to be yet he spoke with such clear insight. If he would have followed all his advice then I am sure he would have been a much more exemplarily person.
It goes to show me that all of us are on our own journey and Scott Peck is no different than the rest of us. Fallen, Pathetic and Sinful.
Maybe Salvation is more about the journey than the destination!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/oct/05/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries
Question? What is sin?
According to websters sin is “an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law : a sin in the eyes of God. Missing the mark! Which pretty much hits the mark for me. 
Seriously, the consequence of sin is death both spiritually and physically. So all of us have missed the mark. In the old testament God has addressed the consequences of particular sins, for instance if a man kills another the penalty is harsher than a man who steals. From this I deduct there are levels of sin. Agreed?
From what I understand the Bible to say, is any man who is perfect in ALL things EXCEPT One, then he cannot get into heaven. I would be interested to see the EXACT verses in the bible that state this. But the point is taken , There is none righteousness.
Agreed? (Its Ok not to agree because I love these questions and enjoy discussing them)
According to the Bible, “NO ONE Except Jesus has walked this earth as a perfect man. NO ONE, Not even Muhammad! Not even close.”