Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘National Post survey’

FROM RELIGION TO SOMETHING BETTER

Posted in It's Not About 'Religion', tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 15, 2023| 5 Comments »

The National Post headline said “Canadians’ faith in God is ‘decoupling’ from their attachment to religion“. Given that this is a spirituality blog, you might think I regard the survey results in this article as bad news.

You would be wrong.

Says the article, published in April 2023: According to a survey carried out for the Association for Canadian Studies, a curious demographic trend in Canada is that spiritual or religious belief has persisted despite the famously steep decline in church attendance and other formal religious observances.

This “decoupling” shows up everywhere from the strictest Abrahamic monotheisms [Christianity, Judaism and Islam] to more mystical and polytheistic faiths.

So why am I — a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, who many people believe is the Son of God — not depressed at this trend? Because I left behind the stone-hearted, negative, judgmentalism of “religion” a long time ago. And Jesus has no problem with that.

In one of the original-source biographies of His life, Jesus said this to anyone willing to listen: Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

See? Jesus knew — and still knows — that religion causes nothing but spiritual and emotional fatigue for most people. These are the folks who keep striving, unsuccessfully, to be “good” enough, pray enough, sacrifice enough and give enough to satisfy sky-high standards. And if they believed they met those standards, then they would probably become just as arrogant and unforgiving as so many other religious people.

The solution is to skip religion and focus on Jesus – His remarkable teachings, gobsmacking miracles, horrifying death and incredible resurrection.

— With an open and inquiring mind, read the four original-source biographies of Jesus’ physical life on Earth. They’re simple called the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

— Ask Jesus followers about Him (including ME: fdking@hotmail.com)

— Go even more radical and ask God to open your heart and mind to what He’s trying to tell you about His Son.

Many people would advise you not to waste your time on this. But I’m confident that since you’re here and reading this, you somehow know that checking out Jesus is important.

I believe you’re on the right track because if you sincerely welcome Jesus into your heart, your mind and your life, He will start making you into the person God created you to be. That’s what’s He’s doing with me. And that process won’t end until this life is finished and I join Him in Heaven.

So what do you think? Post your comments below and let’s have a conversation. 🙂

Read Full Post »

THE AFTERLIFE PUZZLE

Posted in In The News, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 7, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Well, this seems confusing.

Canada’s National Post newspaper has published a new survey that might leave you scratching your head. Or maybe not.

The survey suggests millennials (people born between 1982 and 2002) are:

  • Vastly more likely to believe in an afterlife than older generations. Seventy percent of millennials have this belief, compared to 66 percent of generation Xers and less than 60 percent of people 70 and older.
  • Less likely than older folks to belief in God or a higher power. The percentage stands at 66 for millennials, compared to 80 for pre-baby boomers.

Perhaps this makes sense to you. If that’s the case, let me ask two questions: On what do you base your afterlife belief – the prevailing culture or a favourite TV show or Oprah Winfrey’s philosophies? And If you believe there is no creator, then how is it possible for an afterlife to exist?

This challenge is worth tackling because as the years go by, you’re probably going to place more and more of your trust in your afterlife beliefs. It make sense to base that trust on something solid and unchanging.

I believe there’s far more to our existence than 70 or 80 years of eating, sleeping, working, vacationing and going to the bathroom. I base this on something many people think is radical and even ridiculous: a living, breathing, eternal relationship with God, established through faith in Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is God’s Son.)

I didn’t get this belief from being raised by spiritual parents or by trusting in a bestselling author or a pop culture star. This belief came from an open-minded investigation of Jesus’s claims. I debated people from a variety of perspectives, read many books and thought deeply about all the viewpoints out there.

After that, I decided at age 42 to trust Jesus with this life and the life to come. I did that because, after my investigations, I believe that:

  1. God is perfect and that’s His standard for judging humanity.
  2. Through the bad things we’ve done and the good things we’ve failed to do, every person on this planet has fallen far short of God’s standard.
  3. Human history – and our own life stories – indicates we can’t achieve God’s standard on our own.
  4. Rather than condemn us all, God sent Jesus Christ to this earth to teach us how to live, then to pay the penalty for our “sins” through his sacrificial death and astounding resurrection three days later.

How do I know all this? A primary-source biography of Jesus says “God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending His Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.”

Could there be any better news than this? And for those who trust in Jesus, when this life is over, God won’t see any of your flaws. He’ll just see His Son’s perfection.

Interested? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

Read Full Post »