I've been thinking about this again and realise that this rediscovered journey into faith could resolve a few areas of confusion.
As I've mentioned before: I started my journey into the Christian grace message with my own revelation of what's come to be known as the Unionist message. Like others, I was led to believe that every little thing I did was an expression of the Holy Spirit living in me. Now I know this can't be true because not everything that I do is befitting of Christ. I liked the Unionist message because it went a long way towards explaining how ordinary people could achieve great, sometimes superhuman, things. It also did a lot to relieve the burden of trying to be, do or have something your are not, through an effort of the will.
But I was always perplexed by what I would call The Evil Genius Syndrome: intelligent people using their ability and power for their personal gain, but to the detriment of the masses. The theory of Law of Attraction helps us to understand how people can use power, God-given power, for selfish or even evil purposes. I think it has something to do with the sheer power of believing in yourself. There is a need to redefine selfishness. Fulfilling your own destiny and receiving blessings which benefit only yourself, are fine. Its only when your behaviour and actions adversely affect others, that it indeed becomes selfish and a bad thing.
When I think about it now, angels following people around, micro-managing every little things they say, think or do - it doesn't sound realistic. Even Law of Attraction points towards the inner self which is in tune with the Universe or God; and has the power to manifest those things you focus on and believe. I like the Unionist message in that it highlights those Bible verses that basically tell us that through Christ we are complete, possessing all the potential that we need to fulfil our destiny. Like others, I was confused because I was told that I already had the divine nature - but could hardly see any evidence of it in my life. The key to unlocking that God-given power from within, is through the mind. Firstly by establishing an overall positive disposition - predisposed to think positive thoughts and experience positive emotions, behaviour and experiences. Secondly, by exercising faith, Law of Attraction - they're the same thing really.
I prefer Law of Attraction to Word of Faith because its not limited to a Biblical framework. Kenneth Hagin always used to say in his books that whatever you wanted, see if there is a Bible verse that says you can have it. Darin Hufford of the Free Believers Network calls this Back-up Verse Theology. I know from experience that this can lead to extracting Bible verses out of their context and twisting them to suit a person's own needs. I'm sure everyone would agree that there are no Bible verses that say you can have a particular model of car (or any vehicle with an engine for that matter). Many Christian quote Philippians 4:19 as the basis for receiving what they want - but its rather generic, to say the least.
I can't help feeling frustrated with Hagin and Word of Faith. But I need to remind myself that Hagin was something of a pioneer for his time: he faced a great deal of opposition for extolling Biblical faith for healing and finances. Hagin also refuted following the Ten Commandments, pointing out the fact that we are under a New Covenant of love now; if we walk in love, we fulfil all the Ten Commandments. Hagin faced a lot of opposition for his stance on the Ten Commandments. At least Hagin got Christians thinking about living by faith and experiencing health and prosperity. Hagin also concurred with a lot of what the Unionist Message has to say. Grace preacher Joseph Prince often quotes Kenneth E. Hagin as being a major influence (perhaps the main influence, from what I gather) in his ministry.
Some teachers, including Hagin and Norman Vincent Peal (author of The Power of Positive Thinking) say that there is power in Bible verses. I believe in the power of God and the Gospel. I also value the Bible as a source of inspirational spiritual writings, which we can look to for guidance and encouragement. But I'm inclined to believe now that any perceived power in Bible verses themselves is self-attributed, somewhat like the placebo effect. If someone experiences a miracle which they attribute to a Bible verse - I suppose it can't be a bad thing, in fact, its a good thing. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that a particular sequence of words has power, because they’re from the Bible. I see that some Christians struggle to believe they can have, be or do some things - unless they're convinced that at least one Bible verse confirms it – this is rather restrictive, in my opinion. I like Law of Attraction in that it focuses on the spiritual law of like-attracts-like, without getting distracted with many of the distractions of religion. One can still believe in God and be a Christian, its just that Law of Attraction allows a shift of focus that might be beneficial for a time.
I like the way that Law of Attraction simply advocates attuning to your inner self to see what it is you really want. Experience has shown, however, that a confused, negative-minded person is often distracted by things they think they want, but don't really need. But it all comes down to the need to somehow first develop an overall balanced and solid disposition. Even "following the Word" by using the Bible as a guidebook, won't help much in the case of a confused person with a negative disposition. We must bear in mind that the Bible is open to human interpretation. The same thing goes for sin: if a person is balanced and solid, they'll be inclined to know what’s right for them and have a good sense of what's right for everyone else, from a moral perspective. A person can't necessarily avoid sinning by being told what's right or wrong from their understanding of the Bible.
0 comments:
Post a Comment