Listening to surmons
For my birthday, one of my mother's devout christian coworkers gave me a 5 cd series of surmons by Steve Brown. To all my anti-christian friends, fear not. Listening to these surmons has not made my personal faith waver; it has, in fact, brought my faith to another level, as well as brought me knowledge as to how bible thumpers think. It turns out that they are just as stupid and think about the same things the rest of us do. They just approach their solutions and create personal problems for themselves in different ways. If you're one of my friends, and care to discuss the matter with me, I will be glad to listen to the cd's with you and explain my feelings about it with you, as well as hear your thoughts. Also, you shouldn't try to disrespect me for listening to beliefs outside of my own.
Unlike most retards, I will listen to views and opinons that don't coincide with my own. It can be a test of faith, or a souce of new faith or knowledge. Either way, if one's faith can be swayed easily by counter-current thoughts, their faith wasn't that strong to begin with, and should embrace these new thoughts. Ever wonder why 100% of cult members were recruited when they were bible thumpers? It's because they never learned about other ideologies than their own. Naturally, their faiths would be swayed in an instant. Also, most religious zeolots use religion as a crutch to spare themselves the suffering of thinking for themselves. Those fools, why would the god they believe in give them free wills solely to have them turn around just to blindly follow him?! Idiots...
One of the surmons I listened to is about bitterness. I think anyone, no matter what their beliefs are, should really give this one a listen.
While listening to the surmon on bitterness, a few of my own own incomplete beliefs started coming to mind. I was listening to the stories that the surmon contained, while thinking about different things. I came to a few conclusions. A lot people stay bitter or focus on the past to the point where they can not know or love themselves. People who are bitter will lash out on others (this was expressly said in the surmon). If you are a good person, at least few people should come to mind. If you cannot think of any such people, perhaps it is you. The most important revelation I believe I came to was: People cannot love any one more than they love themselves.
By this, I mean: even if a person gives their entire heart to another, even though this is the most loving feeling they can give, it can be percieved as an act of malice. Simply because that person does not know how to love themselves. The thought of a violent gradeschooler who picks on the classmate he or she loves comes to mind.
I've further thought about it, and I also believe that there are two things that must be done in order for anyone to love themself.
1. Release bitterness. Let go of the past. Forgive the people who have giving you poor transgressions. Also, stop blaming others. This is very hard, since most of us still suffer from our pasts. But to me, suffering is meant to be learned from. It was not until Adam ate from the tree of knowledge that he could know the pain of suffering. Instead of looking at our pasts as sources of pain, we should all look to our pasts as sources of knowledge. Be thankful for those events that have occurred; knowing that you would not be who you are today without them -however horrible they may be-
2. Start trusting. Not just others, but yourself too. I couldn't learn to trust myself until I could trust others. If your fortunate, you will find that when you trust others, they will start to trust you, as well as not want to betray your trust. The feeling that comes when others trust you is greater than any description of heaven I have heard of. It is a feeling that can only be known first hand. The feeling that occurs from this true and mutual trust, I can honestly describe as a true love. Love in it's most minor form is concern or compassion; it's odd though, that some of us can put more concern into strangers halfway across the world in the form of a care package than we can the person right next to us. It's not unless we can trust the strangers right next to us (even the strangers in our own homes) that we can possibly know what love is.
To maintain this love of self, more knowledge is required. But, as a word of advice, stop blaming others. Admit your own faults so you can do something about your situation. We like to point the finger of blame at opthers when we really need to point it at ourselves first. Stop lying to yourself about your situation. You are the worst person you could possibly lie to. And nobody wants to lie to who they love the most. Take it further than jus tnot lying to yourself. Start being painfully honost with yourself. The truth can hurt, but it will only hurt because it's destroying a lie. You'll discover more about yourself than you could have possibly known otherwise. Just applying this simple idea can bring great knowledge to you, as well as complete your ability to love others and yourself, hopefully it will bring you to an understanding of the true nature of the human spirit as well as enlightenment or a connection to a higher power ^_^
Unlike most retards, I will listen to views and opinons that don't coincide with my own. It can be a test of faith, or a souce of new faith or knowledge. Either way, if one's faith can be swayed easily by counter-current thoughts, their faith wasn't that strong to begin with, and should embrace these new thoughts. Ever wonder why 100% of cult members were recruited when they were bible thumpers? It's because they never learned about other ideologies than their own. Naturally, their faiths would be swayed in an instant. Also, most religious zeolots use religion as a crutch to spare themselves the suffering of thinking for themselves. Those fools, why would the god they believe in give them free wills solely to have them turn around just to blindly follow him?! Idiots...
One of the surmons I listened to is about bitterness. I think anyone, no matter what their beliefs are, should really give this one a listen.
While listening to the surmon on bitterness, a few of my own own incomplete beliefs started coming to mind. I was listening to the stories that the surmon contained, while thinking about different things. I came to a few conclusions. A lot people stay bitter or focus on the past to the point where they can not know or love themselves. People who are bitter will lash out on others (this was expressly said in the surmon). If you are a good person, at least few people should come to mind. If you cannot think of any such people, perhaps it is you. The most important revelation I believe I came to was: People cannot love any one more than they love themselves.
By this, I mean: even if a person gives their entire heart to another, even though this is the most loving feeling they can give, it can be percieved as an act of malice. Simply because that person does not know how to love themselves. The thought of a violent gradeschooler who picks on the classmate he or she loves comes to mind.
I've further thought about it, and I also believe that there are two things that must be done in order for anyone to love themself.
1. Release bitterness. Let go of the past. Forgive the people who have giving you poor transgressions. Also, stop blaming others. This is very hard, since most of us still suffer from our pasts. But to me, suffering is meant to be learned from. It was not until Adam ate from the tree of knowledge that he could know the pain of suffering. Instead of looking at our pasts as sources of pain, we should all look to our pasts as sources of knowledge. Be thankful for those events that have occurred; knowing that you would not be who you are today without them -however horrible they may be-
2. Start trusting. Not just others, but yourself too. I couldn't learn to trust myself until I could trust others. If your fortunate, you will find that when you trust others, they will start to trust you, as well as not want to betray your trust. The feeling that comes when others trust you is greater than any description of heaven I have heard of. It is a feeling that can only be known first hand. The feeling that occurs from this true and mutual trust, I can honestly describe as a true love. Love in it's most minor form is concern or compassion; it's odd though, that some of us can put more concern into strangers halfway across the world in the form of a care package than we can the person right next to us. It's not unless we can trust the strangers right next to us (even the strangers in our own homes) that we can possibly know what love is.
To maintain this love of self, more knowledge is required. But, as a word of advice, stop blaming others. Admit your own faults so you can do something about your situation. We like to point the finger of blame at opthers when we really need to point it at ourselves first. Stop lying to yourself about your situation. You are the worst person you could possibly lie to. And nobody wants to lie to who they love the most. Take it further than jus tnot lying to yourself. Start being painfully honost with yourself. The truth can hurt, but it will only hurt because it's destroying a lie. You'll discover more about yourself than you could have possibly known otherwise. Just applying this simple idea can bring great knowledge to you, as well as complete your ability to love others and yourself, hopefully it will bring you to an understanding of the true nature of the human spirit as well as enlightenment or a connection to a higher power ^_^