Spiritual Striptease – Undressing Our Beliefs!!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if God or Jesus would do a striptease? What would it look like if they took off everything that was not necessary to their existence? Or maybe the better question would be, what would it look like if we stripped down all of our beliefs about God and Jesus and got back to the bare necessities of belief? How would that make our lives better? Can we get back to the simple message of a teacher who lived 2000 years ago? I have to answer yes to this question.

Together, we are going to take a look at Christ’s simple message. This message has been complicated by 2000 years of additions by religious authorities. We are going to see if we can reclaim this simple intelligent message that Jesus presented. And as we do, we will take a look and see where we have covered it all over with human invented doctrines like a heavy robe here, a blanket there.

We find this to be true when we look at our beliefs about God, Jesus, humanity, heaven and even the Church.

Undressing Our Beliefs

So let’s begin our search for simplicity by looking at some of our current beliefs about each of these items. Since I come from a Christian background, my thought will start with this point of reference.

God

For too long, God has been imaged as just an old man with white hair and beard who is separate from creation and always ready to judge us when we stray.

Jesus

Jesus has been imaged as God’s only Son who died for us.

Humanity

Humanity resides under a curse from God, even though we are created in God’s image. We are sinners and deserve God’s punishment.

Heaven

Heaven is where we all intend to go when we die, that is if we are good. If not, well, it’s just hell waiting. We will either be rewarded or punished.

Church

And the Church, well it’s a hospital for all those people who are sick in sin. It is cluttered with rituals, creeds and liturgies.

American Conventional Religious Wisdom

All of these ideas are part of the “American conventional religious wisdom.” By this I mean “the central messages that we get from simply growing up in our culture.

On the surface these all sounds good but when you cut into them — revealing the naked truth about them — they are rotten to the core. They won’t offer much in the way of satisfaction or nourishment or direction as you continue this journey of faith.

I hope that together we can look at these five major topics — God, Jesus, Humanity, Heaven and the Church — and begin to reconnect with the naked truth Jesus came to teach us and we will find that we move beyond a dogmatic religion to a more authentic and contemporary relationship and faith where we will meet the God we never knew.

I encourage you to also look at your spiritual journey.

Where did you begin and where are you how?

How have your beliefs grown and changed and what has remained the same? Please feel free to share your thought and comments and insights with us as we journey together, seeking on purpose! And while your here, check out some of the book below by a great author, Eric Butterworth. Blessings and namaste!!!

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