Religion
Most of us are born of parents who have already made their choice of religion and thence ours also. We are informed that our religion is the correct one; we need not look any further. But there are so many religions, how can they all be the correct one?
How did we end up with so many religions? All religions were created by man for the sole purpose of teaching us about God and to help us return to Him, so it is probably not important which one we follow provided it shows us the way. But surely if the teachings do not all agree, then it only follows that as much as there is truth in them there also must be some errors.
Most of us don’t spend much time doing any research on our religion. We seem quite content to go to church on Sunday, make a small donation and refrain from using vile language etc. and then we go about our lives as if it were totally separate from our Sunday duty. Religion for the most part is treated like a hobby; something we do when time permits and we do not have more pressing obligations. Or, it is an obligation that we take care of so as to relieve our guilt regarding the fulfillment of our duty. No wonder religion has become lukewarm. No wonder so many of us just drop out and have no idea how to replace religion with something which fulfills our need for spirituality.
Since we all recognize that our life on earth is to prepare us for our life after earth, shouldn’t we be living like people on a journey where every step counts in our effort to reach our destination? Why should we expect God to welcome us with open arms when we are not even aiming to be with Him? Do we hope that we will accidentally find ourselves in heaven just because we spent an hour on Sunday in a church and dropped a dollar in the collection plate? Is this a program for success?
Faith
What is this thing called faith that we all must have to reach heaven? If we have a question that no one has the answer to, we are told to just have faith. Do we use faith in our daily lives or is faith only related to our religious beliefs?
If we travel by a certain route to get to our job, do we not have total faith that this route will get us to our workplace? Of course, we have proven that this particular road will get us there because it has always led us there in the past. So faith must be trust. We trust in things of which we have had proof and we often trust in information that someone else gives us because it makes sense based on our experiences of the past. We need not experience everything in order to trust in it.
If we have questions regarding our spiritual lives, do we necessarily have to trust that the information is correct when no reasonable proof has been given to us? Are we traitors to our religion if we have difficulty having blind faith? Of course not, there are answers to our every question and we are not traitors if we wish to search for a satisfactory answer. Would we want to place our faith in getting to work without having at least checked a map or taken directions from someone before starting out on that first trip? Definitely not, we would be embarrassed to have anyone know that we had not used common sense in finding our way to work.
And so it is with our faith in God. It is a trust that comes from knowing that we can depend on Him from our experiences in our lives. But before we can have faith we must open a map and check our route, blind faith will get us nowhere.
Destiny
How is our life structured? Are we left to work out every little detail or is part of it planned out and if so by whom? God? We have free will, yet we encounter episodes in our lives that we have not chosen, at least consciously.
Our lives can be likened to a play. Before we are born, we go through a planning stage, first, as in a play we decide what the theme our life will be. What main lessons will we learn? Do we have a debt to repay from a past life? Is there someone we will help? What strengths should we work on?
The next stage in our planning has to do with the people we will interface with to accomplish our special goals. Who shall it be that God will choose to be our parents, siblings, mate and friends? What part will these people play to assist us? As an example, God may choose to teach us to be independent; perhaps being orphaned at an early age would accomplish that. God may choose to teach us compassion by having us care for another who is less fortunate than we are. Imagine all the different scenarios that are being played out all over the earth.
So the characters are cast, the stage is set and we must play our part. Hopefully we remember our lines. If we always act with good intentions, we are less likely to lose our place, and if we do, God in his mercy gives us more than one opportunity to succeed, but we may have to go through several dress rehearsals before we get off the stage to begin our new life in heaven, never to return to this realm unless we choose to come here to help others reach their goal.
God's Laws
From the time we are born, we learn the laws or rules, which we will need to survive. Fire is hot, water is wet, the ground is hard etc. Also, we can’t touch the sky, we’re attached to the earth, we need to breathe air, we eat to stay alive, we procreate, we eventually leave the earth. We could go on and on listing all the laws that we have no control over.
God created everything and did it all by developing a grand plan that entailed setting up laws or rules that were unchangeable and allowed for continual growth and expansion without ever having to make corrections. We take most of these laws for granted and live with and by them without ever questioning them. We often call them the laws of nature.
All through our lives we continually learn about the laws of God, or at least we should continue to learn, but many of us suddenly decide that the laws do not apply. And, what part of our lives might that be? The most important part, the spiritual part of our lives.
Here are few examples where we are unable or unwilling to apply God’s laws:
A woman bears a child and still remains a virgin, not possible. The child grows up and suddenly becomes God, not possible. Puny earthlings crucify God, not possible. People die and are re-united with their bodies at the end times, not possible. A priest changes wine and bread into blood and flesh, not possible. Items can fly about a room without anyone’s help, not possible.
Nothing works without the application of God’s laws. There are many marvelous happenings which seem to work by magic, but upon closer inspection there is a magician behind the magic who follows nature’s laws. There is an order in all creation and there really are no mysteries that cannot be explained by natural laws, or God’s laws. Just because we do not understand the laws does not make them non-existent.
I NEVER ASKED TO BE BORN!
“We choose our friends but not our family”. We have all heard similar statements; we may have said these things ourselves. So, are we so sure about that? How do we come to be born of certain parents, a certain culture or in a certain country? Is it all accidental?
The greatest gift, which God has bestowed upon all of His creatures, is “free will”. If we have had free will from the time that God created us, then why would it apply only to our lives on earth, why not also to our lives in the spirit world? As a matter of fact we did exercise our free will in the spirit world. We chose to reject Christ and follow Lucifer, which landed us in his realm. God had the power to prevent our fall into the abyss but he could not force his will upon us after granting us the gift of free will.
While in the spirit world, we were free to choose to come to earth in order that we might speed up our progression and return to God from whence we originally began.
When we plan to go on a trip, we make preparations such as: which route to take, which items to take along, whom to travel with and which people we may visit along the way. We hope our journey will be smooth and pleasant but we know that there could possibly be some mishaps along the way.
When we make a decision to come to earth, we also make preparations according to the experiences we wish to have and the lessons we wish to learn while here. We choose our family, our culture, our country etc. which will best serve our purposes. So we really do choose to be born and we really do choose our family. Also many people have chosen to travel with us to help them reach their goals.