Losing my religion

How do you know if a church is a Christian cult? Check out today's video discussion:

In general, Christians tend to be bad people: no integrity, morals,etc.At best, they're "good"people-just like any other "unsaved"  "good" human being. What makes them so special?

Same topic, different day. One thing I hear Christians profess publicly on a regular basis is their love for Jesus, how Jesus/God is their protection, how they've been blessed by God, etc. etc. etc. These people utter these words and I wait for the other shoe to drop. Because it isn't long before they do something that completely CONTRADICTS their so-called Christian sanctimoniousness. Usually that's how it works. Because regular people don't have to announce their religious beliefs-nor do they need to proclaim that God is blessing them or protecting them or calling them...or whatever it is that supposedly makes them "special" from the rest of us. Real people just ARE. Christians use their beliefs as some kind of "immunity" from being called on their stuff. I've recently listened to people talking about how God is working in their life, all while breaking Bible commandments (i.e. sex outside of marriage). God has sent this guy your way...

One mistake people make when dealing with the topic of religion is using emotion. They don't separate emotion from the actual facts. Religion is such a deeply rooted anchor in our subconscious minds and psyches that our perception is filtered through that emotional lens. This only happens when someone challenges the supremacy of that religious belief system. A typical knee jerk reaction predicated on emotion is when you critically analyze the church or Christianity as a whole and the person says,  "Not all. MY church is a loving family. My pastor (and his wife) are good people who look out for everyone". If you critically analyze the financial issue of most churches and how churches suck money out of a community without giving anything back in return, the person will not acknowledge it. Instead, they will say that their church does alot for the community. I don't know why this is, but why can't people admit the truth about something without thinking it me...

As the title suggests, Christianity is moving to a new level with a reality show on the cable Oxygen Network called "Preachers of L.A." Here is a clip of the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml8bQDnnkKk I've watched as much of it as I could stand. Being someone far removed from religion and dogmatic paradigms for some time now, even I got nauseous 3 minutes in. Let's be clear: If professed Christians, "saved folk" "God's Chosen" don't see the writing on the wall, it's too damn late. Let's face it: it already is. These pastors are ballin' out of control (meaning they are living lavishly) and have now moved from being millionaire "Pastor-preneurs" (a term c/o Fortune Magazine) to the ranks of reality t/v/ show celebrities, i.e. Kim Kardashian, Honey Boo Boo, and the Real Housewives of everywhere. You got these Christians running around saying one of two things: One-It's "Not my C...

Article link: http://www.twincities.com/national/ci_21915088/crystal-cathedral-founder-seeks-5m-from-church?source=rss LOS ANGELES—The aging founder of the Crystal Cathedral is in court seeking more than $5 million from the ministry he built from scratch in a dispute that has delayed millions in payments to creditors left short-handed when the church filed for bankruptcy two years ago. The Rev. Robert H. Schuller was in Los Angeles on Thursday for the start of a 10-day trial over copyright infringement, intellectual property and contract violation claims that stem from his ministry's devastating financial collapse. The trial continued Friday with testimony expected from his wife, daughter and son-in-law. Crystal Cathedral Ministries filed for bankruptcy in 2010 with more than $50 million in debt. The Schuller family's claims continue to delay about $12. 5 million in payments to creditors. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange purchased the ministry's soarin...

Wow, time flies!     It's May already! The weather-like the flowers- has bloomed and I'm loving being outdoors again. There's something amazing about spring-the aliveness, the energy of rebirth and renewal, of being born again. I write this post just to point something out, something I feel is critical. I'm on You Tube alot. A-lot.  Love it. One thing I don't love, however, is the comment section under the videos. People go crazy there. I also have an addiction to looking at comment sections of blogs and websites.  Often the views are extremely polarized. Othertimes people feel the need to share what the person said that they agree (and especially disagree) with. I think it's critical to take the opportunity to share something here: When someone expresses their thoughts, beliefs, experiences, conclusions or feelings about something, you don't have to agree with it. Again: YOU DON'T HAVE TO AGREE WITH WHAT ANOTHER PERSON SAYS! An...

Hello all!          It's been a while, I know, but I've been busy-dreaming, growing, living, loving, making following my heart and savoring life down to the last morsel. January of this year made for my two-year anniversary! Boo-yah! So, as you can see, I titled this blog "Losing My Religion". At the time, it was so appropo. Actually, in retrospect, I was really letting go of my religion. I was changing, growing, evolving and my religion wasn't. Religion isn't about expanding. There is a glass ceiling you smash into when you actually begin being spiritual. Christianity as I knew it taught us to always be studying my bible, praying and being involved with the "body of Christ" (aka fellow Christians in your particular denomination and/or church) in order to contimually grow more and more like Christ everyday. My struggle all those years was that when I was being like Christ, I found myself up against some serious opposition. See, ...

In American Society, racism is a taboo subject. And in the church, it's even more taboo. But it was real. Very real. I experienced it firsthand. I remember the leader of my church (the pastor's wife) coming into my apartment (actually I was staying with two sisters in the church in a two-bedroom apartment) and blasting my roommate for having all "Afro-centric" decor. "You've got to get rid of this," She said with disgust, flailing her hands in dismay at the Kemetian (Egyptian) paintings on the wall she'd gotten at a Harlem festival. She said the "ethnic decor" was not conducive to evangelizing different kinds of people, that they would be somehow pushed away by my roommate celebrating her own culture. No "universal appeal"  our leader said, aggravated, her blue eyes flaming. It was weird at the time, but it was understood amongst my household that this woman was not "white" but our leader-the leader who God had appoint...

Throughout my post-church experiences, there is something I have realized. Religion is not about a particular church. It's not Christianity, Judaism, Islam or any other. In my Christian church days, I learned many valuable lessons through all the painful experiences. One of those lessons was about what actually constitutes a religion. After I left religion and entered the "secular" world, the contrast became more clear. In other words, I thought that I left religion behind when I left religion behind-if you get what I'm saying. But religion is not about church. In fact: Everything in our society is a religion! Our western American culture is a religion. So is our obsession with Hollywood and it's celebrities. And Sports. And politics....after all, the root word in culture is "cult"... See, religion is not about Jesus or Muhammad, Krishna or Yahweh. Religion is a paradigm, a social construct that is rigid and dense. It limits you. And confi...

Since I first started this blog back in 2011, I have gone through many changes. Really that's an understatement. With each blog, readers can see my journey, my own evolution. The question then becomes, evolution towards what? Good point. Today I conclude that what we call spirituality- a word so casually tossed  across the board- is perfectly individual. This is not a new concept, I realize this. But common sense is not always common. What we believe-from our perception of God, church, politics, education, etc.- was never meant to be a collective experience. That's why people experience so much conflict when other people are sharing their opinions on a subject. On You tube, you have millions of people commenting all sorts of things in protest of what someone else has to say. Others are having conversations and are getting caught up in disagreements because the other person thinks differently than they do.... Here's my new question: Why does it mat...

Can we grant ourselves permission to just be ? Do we have to....well, is anything a 'have-to'? From the cradle, we have been told a resounding 'YES!' But is that true? When I talk about permission with others, even spiritual people have considerable trouble grasping this.  It's assumed we have permission from ourselves to be ourselves. But is that true? Almost everything is what we 'have to' or 'should do', isn't it? Go to school, get married, buy a house, have 2.5 children, work 40 hours a week,  go to church, run around being 'busy'........ Such pressure is often invisible to the naked eye. But it's there. You can feel it. And I can feel it, too. These energies manifest as disapproval or rejection. As marginalization or exclusion from a group, an opportunity or a relationship. Truthfully, we are so indoctrinated with external values and ideas that it has become a part of us. We are running a program and we don...

I have a new perspective on prayer these days. Here's what I think is a powerful quote on the reality of prayer: "... when we pray to God, it's not the entity "God" that answers prayers, it's that we are harnessing the inherent power/frequency of that word which has the ultimate power to transform, transcend, heal and create. This accounts for the reason so many people in so many different religions experience a profound transformation when they pray or practice faith. They are all tapping into the same frequency that can transcend the perceived limits of this physical world. This is what we call "God Frequency ." Many times people don't think of God like that. To many, God is a guy on the throne in the sky looking down- sort of like a genie who is deciding to grant our wishes-or not. We think if we're a good-enough court jester, God will crack a smile and wave his magic wand on our behalf. Others will say that they don't think o...

I joined a group several months ago. It's a spiritual group. For anyone who's been following my blog for a while, you may be holding your breath at this very moment....but it wasn't like that at all. The woman who started the club invited me to join, and we had an instant connection.... Nevertheless, I was hesitant. But this woman was very comforting and she really helped me in my moment of need with her kind words, so I was more open to hearing about this group she had going. I'd been on my own spiritual journey for a while and was deeply desiring meaningful relationships again. If you check out the archives from last year, I wrote a blog on friendship and the experience of being all alone. When I walked away from my religion, I also walked away from the relationships formed inside of that religion. It was very traumatic losing everything I'd ever known, though I knew it was the right thing for me to do. So here I was, deciding whether to...