As a spiritual-futurist, I have a BA degree majoring in history. One cannot know the future without knowing the past which holds clues to what is on the horizon. The world is in such a rapid expansion of knowledge that we are close to entering a tipping point that will forever change earth as we know it.
For too long, much of the church and most religions have focused on the EXTERNALS. From the view point of Jesus, who became the Christ, it was all about INTERIORITY and not the EXTERNALS. More specifically Jesus is credited as having said you can't find the Kingdom (of God) by looking over there or around here because the Kingdom is WITHIN!
There's nothing wrong with rituals as long as we keep them in proper perspective!
However, when we make salvation an external issue, offered by an external official, consummated in an external edifice, and upheld by external laws, we're way off base. It's not just the church but the entire world that has focused on the SEEN more than the UNSEEN. The visible is important; however, so much more so is the invisible. After all, doesn't the New Testament say that the visible is only temporal (I Cor. 4:18)?
Let's look at some of the more common conclusions that verify what I'm saying.
>We judge souls by the church one attends or beliefs they embrace.
>We evaluate intelligence from framed certificates on the wall.
>We determine emotional states based on voice inflections.
>We fantasize sexually based primarily on appearances (same or opposite sex).
>We judge success on the price of houses we live in the model of cars we drive.
These portraits of both religious and secular piety greatly limit one's real quality of life not to mention demeaning the entire raison d'etre of life. Worst of all are the religious fanatics, fundamentalists, and zealots who without hesitation move into character assassination of those who dare to think something different than "their literal-external" interpretations of life.
Who needs these "portraits" when we have the LIVE REALITY WITHIN.....I AM?
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