Positive Thinking versus Negative Thinking

The conclusion I have come to so far, after everything that I have learned up to this moment, is that what shapes the course of a person’s life in relation to how happy and confident they are and what they experience – all comes down to their thinking (positive or negative).

It is our beliefs, and therefore our thinking, which determines how rich or poor we will be, how effective we will be in relationships and how good we will be at making decisions. If you think positively – life will tend to go well for you; if you think negatively – life will tend to be one big drama. There has been a lot of self-help books published on the subject of positive thinking. There has also been a great deal of emphasis in charismatic Christian circles on positive thinking from a Biblical perspective.

It was around 1994 when I first read the book The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Dr Joseph Murphy. It was this book which started my spiritual journey and it changed my perspective on how we influence the way in which we relate to, and experience, life.

I have struggled to implement the positive thinking and affirmation techniques that were presented by self-help and Christian teaching. A lot of the time I was just trying to avoid negative circumstances, influence other people and make things happen just the way I wanted them to. This just led to stress and a great deal of naivety and arrogance on my part, as I tried to live life on my own terms – as if I knew what was best for me. I came to understand the futility of positive thinking and affirmations, as I realised that I had no tenacity to keep going with them and my efforts felt coaxed and unnatural.

I have found that the most fundamental need in the life of a person, regardless of their beliefs, is the need to be free from his own negative thinking. I have found through releasing and inquiry that it is a person’s contraction around a thought, a belief, which causes the stress, confusion and suffering in their life. Without that contraction around a thought – they would be free to experience life to the full; they would be more confident, happy and spontaneous without those thoughts that seem to weight them down. Also, without contraction around beliefs, there is a sense of inner peace, clarity of mind which is conducive to drawing upon wisdom and making good decisions.

I have found that to a great extent, life just does itself, when we are no longer holding onto beliefs and trying to control our lives with our minds. Without the stress created by our own thoughts, we can be free to live life with peace and happiness. This does not mean that we will no longer experience “bad” circumstances. But I do believe that freedom from contraction around beliefs is by far the best way to attract positive circumstances into our lives. Therefore, there is a need, especially for anxiety sufferers, to be free of the contraction around beliefs.

I have found that inquiry through The Work of Byron Katie has been the simplest and most effective means of becoming free of the tyranny of our own beliefs.

Inner Transformation

There is much debate in Christian circles about the subject of inner transformation. Christianity is seen by many as a means of changing yourself from the inside out: transforming a person mentally, emotional and even physically, for the better. Rules-based Christianity puts the onus on the individual with demands for good works and clean living.

The grace message emphasises resting in the knowledge that your sins have been laid upon Jesus on the cross and you have been given a new nature that does not sin – the divine nature. This change of nature is also known as the new birth or being born again. When Jesus told the religious scholar Nicodemus in John 3:3 that he had to be born again – Nicodemus could not understand Him. It is the same today not only with the Jews (who follow the Old Testament law), but also with most Christians (who seem to follow a mixture of law and grace – self-effort and belief in Jesus).

Inner transformation, whether by self-effort or by faith, is debatable. Some Christians believe that by adhering to morals and making an effort to be a better person – you can be transformed. Some Christians believe that by simply resting your mind on the finished work of the cross, in other words, by faith – you can be transformed. The latter category leads believers to study and meditate upon the Biblical concepts of God’s nature and power abiding in us. The focus on God-in-us leads us away from self-effort and allows us to trust in God to live His life in-and-through us. Bible verses which back-up this concept include: 2 Peter 1:4, Ezekiel 11:19, Romans 5:5, 1 Cor. 12:13 and John 14:16.

I have observed the lives of other Christians over the years and I struggle to see much in the way of inner transformation in them. It seems that most Christians seem to live from their own personality which has been shaped and formed over the years through experience.

I will admit that I studied the Bible a great deal when I came into the revelation of God’s grace towards us. I even tried to verbally declare certain Bible verses in an affirmation style, in the hope that I would experience this new nature in me. I must admit that although I did mature naturally over time, I cannot say that studying the Bible made much of a difference to my life. I have struggled with anxiety for most of my life, even before I was a Christian, and I still do today.

Christian “Square One” – Part 2

What I have found is that when a Christian makes the transition from religious legalism into grace – to a great extent they tend to be very much the same person as they were before they became a Christian. But now they believe in Jesus, but without the stress, naivety and dogma. The process of experiencing Christianity as it is perceived but actually is not – has the effect of driving a person as far away from those things as possible. When before you used to criticize people for indulging their sins, now that you have experienced the struggle of keeping your own life clean, and you know you are righteous by faith, you are now inclined to see the struggles of others with compassion.

I do also find that no matter what your religious or spiritual convictions are, seeking justice in one form or another seems to be a constant factor in many people’s lives. I suppose it is this tendency to seek after justice, which makes it so tempting to criticize and judge other people. If someone does me wrong or they are abusing me, I ought to consider taking some kind of action against that. If someone commits a crime against me or another, I am responsible to report that person. This kind of action has little to do with a sense of seeking justice - it is more along the lines of simply doing what is right. When it comes to seeking justice I suppose what I am trying to highlight here is the need to get away from stewing over something that is simply out of our hands and is, quite frankly, none of our business.

I believe that The Work of Byron Katie is probably the only spiritual or self-help method which accepts people and things, just the way they are, without seeking justice. I suppose it is for this reason that it is seen by many as being rather controversial.

Christianity is meant to be something which radically changes a person’s life for the better – that is the ideal, but it is not what I have experienced. If someone came into Christianity as an anxious, negative and timid person – those negative traits will still tend to exist to a great extent. Likewise, if someone became a Christian when they were confident and out-going – they will still be confident and outgoing when they come into the grace message. This raises the question as to whether Christian spiritual concepts can actually make a difference to a person’s life: does reading the Bible regularly change a person’s character? Does prayer change negative circumstances to positive ones?

This Christian “Square One” is fine if you are relatively happy, positive and good things happen in your life – but what do you do when you are not happy and satisifed and things just tend to go wrong most of the time? It is at that stage that you need something that really works – something that will make a positive difference in your life. It is at that moment that all the spiritual teaching you have had up to that moment, is put to the test. Unfortunetly, I have found that most of the things I have learned have not made a bit of difference in my life – that can be a tough reality to deal with! When you have clung onto all sorts of high-hopes for many years, only to realise most of it does not really seem to work – that is a hard thing to deal with. This raises the question of what really does work?

This brings us swiftly onto the subject of inner transformation – the topic of the next blog post.

Christian “Square One” – Part 1

What I have found with the Christian grace message is that it basically brings you back to square-one: you return to that point in your life just before you became entangled with all sorts of religious demands and intimidation. For many such Christians there is a great deal of anger and frustration that you were lied to and abused for so long.

But there is inevitably a huge sense of relief that the intimidating, judgemental God that you believed in for so long – does not exist. Now, you are able to see God in a new light, free of the misunderstanding that turned Him into a tyrant in your mind. Now you see God as kind and loving. It is difficult to reconcile all the scary verses in the Bible in which God brought His wrath to bear on some people. But our perspective of everything in the Bible changes when viewed through the lens of love.

I think there are many Christians who are basically happy to just come to the grace message and live their life from there. Sure, there is a lot of soul-searching, re-discovery of self and a quest for answers, which takes place the moment you step into the grace message. But I think that for many Christians there is a genuine sense of relief when you know that God is not all those things you hoped He was not. Many of the grace Christians that I have befriended on Facebook, who had stopped going to church, eventually just move on with their lives and you hardly hear from them again over the internet. There is a phrase, which I daresay has become a bit of a cliché now, which says, “Just rest in the finished work of the cross.” Basically, Jesus Christ did all the work for us over 2000 years ago, and now we who believe in Him, can enjoy all the benefits of His death, burial and resurrection.

I think for most grace Christians, the message of grace is all that they need in order to just move on with their lives. There is a lot less stress in their lives as they realise that they are not going to go to hell just because they did not pray that morning and so on. I think there is a lot of religious detoxification that goes on as you no longer do the things you used to do. You might still read the Bible and enjoy doing so without it being a chore. But there is no longer a need to pray or read the Bible because you feel you must do so.

I’m not saying that life is just “plain sailing” for most Christians when they finally come out of religious bondage and into grace – everyone has their ups and downs in life. I feel that by the time a Christian has been around the religious circuit a few times, and they have experienced a life rule-keeping, by the time they come into grace they are older and more mature. The positive benefits of suffering and trauma are indeed debateable. But I think there is something about trials, struggle and suffering that has an attritional quality about it: life’s tests have an inbuilt function which grinds away at those negative aspects of our personality and makes us better people.

Gospel Basics – Part 4

I have really calmed-down a great deal from studying the Bible. I now realise that a lot of the time I was studying the Bible because I was anxious and desperately in need of something. Some Christians believe that they can claim wealth and power – only if they have enough faith; this equates to basically praying and reading the Bible over and over again. I wrote about this in my blog entry entitled The Harvest Mentality – Part 1 and The Harvest Mentality – Part 2.

For other Christians, they read the Bible and pray a lot because they believe that it is the only way they will be happy and transformed on the inside. Have you heard some Christians pray? Most of the time they sound anxious, desperate and frustrated – does that sound like faith to you?

I also feel that there is a category of Christians who just basically get carried away with spiritual concepts: they love the theology aspect of it all and get rather obsessive with the study of the Bible. I suppose what keeps such people motivated is the desire to be an known expert in something; I would also add that perhaps there is also a measure of one of the above motives at work as well.

Unfortunately, it seems that merely believing in the basics of the Gospel is not enough for most Christians. There is an incessant demand to “bear fruit” in the lives of those who believe. This distracts people away from accepting themselves as they are, and others as they are, leading to guilt and judgementalism.

But we are left with the question of why those who believe in Christ do not experience transformation in their lives and abundant happiness and blessings. Some would say it is because of sin; others would say it is because people don’t pray enough or read the Bible enough; whilst others would say it is because people don’t serve in the church enough; some would even insist it is because Christians don’t give enough in the offering! This is a particular favourite amongst church pastors and Televangelists.

Having become acquainted with releasing and inquiry techniques, I can say emphatically that the reason why Christians don’t experience the fullness of what belongs to them in Christ – is because they are too contracted around thoughts. That really does explain everything, I believe. There is no need to study myriads of spiritual concepts, read the Bible over and over again or attempt to adhere to all sorts of principles. Contraction around beliefs explains everything when it comes to understanding the reason for dysfunction in a person’s life.

I have noticed that when I use inquiry – I often touch base on the Gospel basics, including the Four R’s which I have mentioned: righteousness, redemption, remission and reconciliation. I don’t believe I use Biblical concepts in my inquiry sessions which could be construed by anyone as “excessive”. Quite often I find that I don’t even quote Bible verses at all during inquiry and I don’t even mention “God” or “Jesus”. I don’t refer to the Bible during inquiry in a coaxed fashion because I feel I have to out of religious duty – I just do it spontaneously and naturally, because it is what I believe. Why, for instance, would I fear death when I know I am saved and will go to Heaven when I die? Why would I fear never getting my needs met when I know that I am right with God the way I am and I am redeemed from the curse of the law?

I don’t believe that a person will necessarily experience inner transformation or incredible blessings from God as a result of listening to Christian grace teaching over and over again. But what this grace message does do is that it sets you free from religious obligations and your own efforts to please God – whilst maintaining a person’s Christian integrity and belief in Him. This leaves a person free to live their lives without a sense of condemnation hanging over their heads like a dark cloud. I think this Gospel message gives a person hope without them having to study scripture incessantly and repeat Bible verses, over and over again.

Gospel Basics – Part 3

It would seem that as soon as a person becomes a Christian, they are led into a maze of religious obligations and excesses, such as over-analysing things and studying the Bible incessantly. But to a great extent, this indulgence of the ego can have the effect of wearing a person out so that they finally relinquish all of the excesses and rule keeping in favour of simply embracing God’s unconditional love for them. The Message translation of the Bible refers to this as being burned out on religion:

²⁸ "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest.

²⁹ Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

³⁰ Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Matthew 11:28-30 msg

It is debatable as to how much a person enjoys the benefits of these promises, according to how much he believes he has them through faith in Christ. A religious legalist would say that a person does not have these promises afforded to his account, unless he says a “Sinner’s Prayer” and repents of his sins. But those who are more freely inclined to accept God’s unconditional grace tend to be more open to the idea that these promises are for everyone – believer and non-believer alike.

An ardent follower of The Work might say that as these are beliefs – I should do the Work on them: inquire and see that they are not true. After all, Byron Katie often says that there is no such thing as a good belief. That’s fair enough and if those beliefs were stressful – I would do just that. But you see, these beliefs are not stressful because righteousness, redemption, remission and reconciliation are all precious promises – the Gospel is Good News. There is no obligation or stress associated with God’s unmerited favour and grace whatsoever. It is only when we strive to merit such blessing and favour according to our own efforts, that is when we wear ourselves out and it becomes stressful.

I do wonder to what extent a Christian needs to study Biblical concepts and understand them. I went completely overboard with studying these Biblical concepts and my life was not much bettered for it.

I was left wondering just how much I should study the Bible and what I really needed to know. But I am now inclined to believe that all that is required is to just know and believe the absolute basics of what belongs to us in Christ – “The Four R’s”. I don’t believe that there is a so-called “advanced” level to attain. I really think that spiritual concepts have to pass the “three year old” test – it should be so simple that a three year old can understand it. I don’t believe it really goes much beyond that, as there is nothing we can do for God, as such. God did everything for us through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

Christians only believe that they have to go beyond the very basics of the Gospel when through guilt they believe that they should have, be or do something beyond what they experience in this moment. It seems noble to attain to some kind of moral standard, but to a great extent, it is guilt and an unwillingness to accept the fact that you are right with God – just the way that you are.

For some Christians, it is imperative that they eradicate anything in their life which may be deemed sinful; there is a cliché in the church which is based on 1 Thess. 5:22 that says, “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” But when Christianity become about sin-management, we veer away from the main message of the Gospel. The promise of righteousness is, after all, through faith – faith is believing in something which is not confirmed by your physical senses.

Gospel Basics – Part 2

I know it is impossible to try to reduce the Bible, or more precisely the Gospel, down to a pamphlet or a single sheet of paper listing all the basics. But I think Christians who finally get the revelation of God’s grace towards them, can simply rest in the fact that they finally know and believe that the wonderful gifts of righteousness, redemption, remission and reconciliation are already bestowed upon them.

I think most educated people know that the Bible is split in two halves: The Old Testament and the New Testament. These Testaments are covenants: agreements made between man and God through the shedding of the blood of an innocent animal. The New Covenant was made through the blood of Christ, which is why He is known as the Lamb of God. The Old Covenant, which includes the Ten Commandments and all the Jewish laws, was actually never meant to be kept! It was a forerunner, a shadow of the new and better covenant that was to come. The Bible actually calls the Old Covenant the ministry of death (2 Cor. 3:7).

It might actually surprise a lot of people, even Christians, to learn that the Four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), are actually not really part of the Gospel, the New Covenant at all! The New Covenant was not forged until Christ rose from the grave. It is actually in what are known as the Pauline Epistles, the letters to the church from Apostle Paul, that we learn of the true significance of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. We should not be surprised, therefore, to learn that Jesus’ earthly ministry was a preparation for the true Gospel. If you read the Four Gospels, you will see that Jesus actually spends a lot of time provoking the Pharisees, the religious Jewish elite of the day. These Pharisees took pride in their rule-keeping, up-over-and-beyond the really important things, such as showing kindness and mercy to others.

²³ "Yes, woe upon you, Pharisees, and you other religious leaders--hypocrites! For you tithe down to the last mint leaf in your garden, but ignore the important things--justice and mercy and faith. Yes, you should tithe, but you shouldn't leave the more important things undone.

Matthew 23:23 TLB

A tithe is a “tenth”, by the way: it is an offering of a tenth of your income or produce.

Once a Christian gets to that place whereby knowing the love of God and living in that freedom, is more important that keeping rules and maintaining religious pride, the actual Gospel message becomes a short message.

Yes, we can derive some useful information from other books of the Bible; but to a great extent, I think that a Christian can really make the most progress by just reading the Epistles. I would even dare to go further than that and say that the book of Romans probably contains most of what a Christian really needs to know. If I was to condense things even further, I would say that Romans Chapter 6, especially in a paraphrased version such as The Living Bible or The Message, goes a long way to convey the core essentials of the Gospel.

Gospel Basics – Part 1

I am still not quite sure just what exactly a Christian should know in order to be considered fit to live a good, Christian life. I have personally gone into a great deal of detail when it comes to scripture – I feel as if I’ve gone overboard with theology, all in the hope of changing my life and the lives of others. I don’t really feel a great deal better for it, to be honest. One thing I do know, above everything else, is that trying to use the Bible to discern principles and moral standards to live by, simply does not work.

When it comes to the message of the Gospel, the good news of Christ, I believe that we only really need to know, understand and believe, the very basics of the core message – all of which is good news to us (no demands, “shoulds” or rules to follow). If people were to take this truth on board, there would be no need to set themselves in staunch opposition to Christianity. Yes, I agree, there are abuses that go on in the church, together with a lot of confusion and contention; many people have worked their way through the maze of all of this and come to know what true Christianity is all about.

These great and precious promises are things that the Bible says we already have in Christ. There is no “trying” to get or working towards something: aiming towards a pre-determined moral standard. According to the Bible – we already have these promises in our possession, in our heart, right now!

So let us now consider some of the things that the Bible tells us we already have in Christ:

• Love (Romans 5:5)
• The life-giving power of God in us (John 10:10)
• Spirit of power, love and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7 NIV)
• Redemption and forgiveness / remission of sins (Ephesians 1:7).
• Reconciliation (Romans 5:11)
• Righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)
• No condemnation (Romans 8:1)
• Partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4)
• The Holy Spirit living in us (John 14:16)
• Holy Spirit guidance (Romans 8:14)
• Gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:4-11)
• Material needs supplied (Philippians 4:13)

If I have left anything out here, then we should bear in mind that Ephesians 1:3 says that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.

If I had to put the Gospel in a “nutshell” and provide a summary of what Christ’s finished work means, in just one sentence, I would use what I call “The Four R’s”: righteousness, redemption, remission and reconciliation. These are four incredibly powerful concepts which are the mainstay of the Christian belief system. As a Christian I would say that “The Four R’s” are immutable facts, rather than something we strive to attain or to earn. Whether these precious promises are available to non-Christians to enjoy is a subject which is hotly debated amongst some Christians.

Righteousness

This is seen by some as a believers ability to live his life right, free of sin. Indeed, if we have the nature of God imparted to us through the new birth, we ought to be able to live free from sin – so it can include that. But that type of righteousness is often used to put the onus on the believer, instead of on Jesus. Righteousness has more to do with our being accepted by God, not because of what we have done, but because of what Christ has already done for us. There are no obligations attached to righteousness – it is a free gift to those who believe.  We are right with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Redemption

Redemption is a term used in relation slavery, which means to be bought out of slavery. This relates to being set free from sin, both in terms of our being held captive to its allure, and also, to the punishment of sin by God. The latter part is also referred to as redemption from the curse of the law. The curse of the law being the curses that God would allow to come upon those who failed to keep the Old Testament rules, including, but not exclusive to, the Ten Commandments. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13).

Remission

The New Testament often states that our sins are forgiven in Christ. But oftentimes the Greek work translated “forgiven” is actually the word for remission. When something is remitted – it is taken away forever. In Christ, our sins have been taken away as if they had never existed. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matthew 26:28). When the Bible talks about sin, it is mostly in the context of man’s nature without God – it is a state of being. In Christ, the “old man” which loved to sin has died and we have been raised up with Christ with the nature of God abiding in us.

Reconciliation

In Christ we have been reconciled to God, brought near to Him and restored back into relationship with Him. We were never made to live apart from God; we cannot exist without Him. We were created for fellowship with God, just like a son to his Father. Adam knew God intimately, but lost that fellowship when he sinned. In actual fact, God seeks to live His life in us and through us. (See Acts 17:28, Ezekiel 37:27, Phil. 2:13, 1 Cor. 6:19).

Christianity and Inquiry

I have been wondering to myself what the purpose of this blog really is. After some thought I would say that it is all about making a case for people using releasing through The Sedona Method or The Release Technique/Abundance Course and inquiry through The Work. After using both methods now for around 2 years now, I tend to use Inquiry more than releasing.

I particularly want to make a case for Christians using these methods. The typical Christian carries around so much religious baggage and concepts, which makes them refuse to do anything like release and inquiry – typically dismissing such methods as “New Age”. But I am adamant that Inquiry has its place in the life of the Christian. I have even made an attempt to find Bible verses which attest this conviction.

The Grace Message

I have been through various different “phases” or “seasons” in my Christian journey. I’ve experienced the manipulation, fads and formulas; I’ve made financial offerings to the church with the promise of wealth, I’ve prayed incessantly for “revival”, I’ve experienced healing miracles and I’ve feared that I might have lost my salvation more times than I can count. The religious oppression or rituals and rules eventually led me to what is now knows as the “grace message”. This grace message veers away from rule keeping and focuses on God’s love for us and how Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins. Now, instead of trying to gain God’s approval through our good deeds and behaviour – we are to rest in the finished work of the cross.

I recently wrote some entries in my Christian blog The Divine Nature which I feel provide a summary of my journey into the Christian “grace message” so far:

Grace Origins…How It All Started

Grace Elements…Righteousness and No-condemnation

Grace Elements… Unionist Teaching

Grace Elements… Free Believers / Anti-I.C.

A New Found Freedom

I also have a list of links to various Christian teachers and preachers who teach this grace message on the Grace Preachers List.

The interesting thing is that if I had not come to this “grace message”, I would not have even considered anything along the lines of releasing and inquiry. It is only the grace message which paves the way for releasing and inquiry. If a Christian is “law-oriented” rather than “grace-oriented” – there is no way they would even consider releasing and inquiry. When I think about it now, the Christian grace message, releasing and inquiry have only become popular in recent years. The form of self-inquiry known as The Work, has not been around all that long at all. I know that releasing was discovered about thirty years ago, but the Sedona Method basic course, in CD and book form, has not been around for all that long.

For Such a Time as This

There is a Bible verse, Esther 4:14, which ends with the statement, “for such a time as this.” It just makes me think that everything I’ve experienced in my life so far has been for this moment I now experience. Even all the difficult times and the so-called “mistakes” I’ve made – it’s all been for such a time as this. There has never been a time in history when the Christian message has been so pure and undefiled by man-made religious oppression and manipulation, together with the incredible methods of releasing and inquiry. Releasing and inquiry provide tools for self-improvement and self-realisation which, I believe, are unparalleled. Furthermore, without the freedom of what is now known in Christian circles as “The Grace Message”, there is no way that I would have ever gone near releasing or inquiry techniques.

The Misunderstood God

As I have mentioned in my Grace Elements series – there are different facets of the Christian grace message which different Bible teachers and Christians focus on: some focus on correcting a misinterpretation of the Bible and use Bible verses to do so. Other people focus more on the “essence” of the Gospel, without quoting Bible verses. This focus on the “essence” of the Gospel, also seeks to address the frustration and anger of the manipulation of the institutional church. My favourite blog which focuses on the “essence” of the Gospel is The Free Believers Network. I recommend the book, The Misunderstood God, by Darin Hufford, founder of The Free Believers Network, which aims to correct the misunderstanding Christians have about God, in relation to His love for us.

Rosie O’Donnell Interview With Byron Katie

Talk-show maven Rosie O’Donnell, who has been chosen to be on Oprah’s new network, interviewed Byron Katie on her Sirius XM talk show last week. This is an hour and a half of audio in eight parts.

The first part has 2:36 seconds of Rosie singing before she gets to the interview, so forward the video to 2 minutes 36.

http://sandralenington.com/blog/interview/rosie-talks-to-byron-katie/

There are also some other interesting self-help and The Work related links on the website.