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After posting this morning I was excited to see this quote from Richard Rohr in my inbox:

"I believe that we rather totally missed Jesus’ major point when we made a religion out of him instead of realizing he was giving us a message of simple humanity, vulnerability, and nonviolence that was necessary for the reform of all religions—and for the survival of humanity."

Highly recommend Richard's daily meditations. You can sign up here: https://cac.org/email-sign-up/?utm_source=cm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DM&utm_content=DM_Join-Now

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Preach, brother! Amen! I agree that Revelations is the worst, most harmful book in the Bible! What a great reminder to seek the kin-dom here and now! Thank you 🙏

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I've often called it lazy church syndrome.

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Love this!! "I believe the invention of the Christian Heaven has perhaps done more harm than the invention of Hell." This line was especially eye opening. I really appreciate your take on things and how you put it into words!

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Christianity will morph and recede as the centuries roll on and new gospels are discovered, though I do think the teachings of Jesus will remain. I experienced that same impoverishment in evangelical circles -- lack of intellectual curiosity, fear of questioning faith (I mean, no Socrates were to be found there) and the lack of care over Nature. They appreciated the beauty of creation but didn't think it was worth saving because love of Nature was pantheism and replaced their god. They forgot the term "steward".

Oy, I'm glad I'm out.

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I was raised Christian, fell away from faith, as nothing ever felt "alive" to me. Then a few years ago, started meditating and after a couple of what I would call "consciousness events" that felt alive and closer to God/Tao/etc than anything I'd ever previously experienced, my eyes opened and it became instantly clear that Jesus was talking about the same thing all mystics and sages talk about. Suddenly puzzling scriptures made sense to me. Once it's experienced, it's crystal clear. The Kingdom of Heaven is within us. It didn't even dawn on me that this might be controversial, but I guess, in retrospect, it probably is to some.

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