Grains of Truth

Issue 1

A BACKSTORY

When I first became Christian ( as my adult self, about 5months ago now) I had many preconceived notions about what exactly it meant to BE Christian.

• “Christians are so judgy I’m going to be walking around on eggshells….”
• “They won’t accept me I’ve done too many things that spit in the face of their religion.”
• “Christians promote prejudice against homosexuals and oppression of women”
• “I’m going to be so BORING now and I’m going to lose all my friends…”

All of these statements and at the same time…none of them, have proven to be true.

Because no one Christian is the same as another.

Sure, there are the judgy ones. The hypocrites, the prejudiced…the same can be said for any and all factions of society. I think of these types of people, as ignorant. Unconscious. Unenlightened.

And anyone who actively seeks God is not going to stay ignorant for long. And if they DO stay ignorant…it means that they were never seeking God in the first place and are therefore not TRUE Christians.

 For the most part, I am finding the majority of Christians to be open minded, kind compassionate and generous people, who don’t deserve the shade that’s thrown their way by ignoramuses like me.

Also, within the church , there exists a myriad of denominations, some as different from one another as night to day. All in all, I am happy to have had my preconceived notions proven wrong.

 Before me lies a smorgasbord of doctrine… and if the way one denomination practices the faith sets off spiritual alarm bells.. then I am free to explore and find one that feels right.

 As for my non Christian friends…they’re still around. We don’t hang out in the same way we used to but we still have love and respect for one another. I am hopeful that one day, when the time is right, Christ will make an appearance in their lives. Perhaps this work has already began, through me. Because believe me when I say.. I enjoyed that lifestyle just as much as any of them do. And part of me misses it, a pretty big part of me.

Maybe, by seeing me…a hopeless addict who suffered endless mental torment, living now FINALLY in a place of freedom from addiction, with a clear and happy mind.. they’ll begin to believe in the miracles that God works in the lives of those who seek Him.

I came kicking and screaming to Christianity, because (through a providential series of events)I came to KNOW, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God is to be found through Christ. (read my conversion story here: who is God to me.)

After a lifetime of searching and only scratching the surface, I finally hit oil.

I am now ready to martyr my ego to move into closer alignment with that which lives in us, and is of God.

The incessant voice , one of many, that forms part of my (and, most everyone’s??…) psyche. And it says…Seek God. Be good. See and reject this evil that lives within you. Become Holy, that is your purpose. That is the purpose of every soul in creation.

It’s one thing to imagine the sacrifice needed to achieve liberation of the ego but quiet another thing to weather the experience of your own liberation. I said yes to Jesus, and so began the process of sanctification. And what a painful process it has been.

 But #worthit.

It really is quite ironic, that…on my journey to knowing God, I find myself back(almost, more or less…) exactly where I started.

You see, I was born into a “Christian-ish” household. (We called ourselves Christians but, aside from the occasional half hearted prompting from my mother …”we really should all go to church” we were mostly non-practicing.)

From the vantage point of a child raised in a pretty toxic conservative culture, the doctrine of Christianity had very little to do with God and a lot more to do with justifying abuse of woman and children, and prejudice towards anyone who did not prescribe to their ideologies or hold with their hypocrisy.

And because I could not reconcile this hypocrisy with who I believed God to be…I shunned the God of Christ, and decided to seek Him elsewhere.

And I DID find Him, in bits and pieces, as the grain of Truth masking the lies of every other spiritual practice I participated in.

This is the reason that false religions are so powerful, they contain grains of Truth, every one of them. Satan cannot create, but he can take what God has created and add to it or take away from it, twist it so that it twists US…thirsting souls drinking vinegar believing it to be water.

Not even Christianity, Gods own religion, is safe from the lies. No one organisation or individual is free from satan’s influence, the web of lies that he spins and the ignorance he breeds, because we live in a fallen world and are under his rule.

Here, no one is safe, but we can BE saved. God can protect us, if we are willing to take a very close look at ourselves and ask Him to help remove from our minds the ideologies, characteristics, actions and thoughts which keeps God out of our hearts and keeps satan in.

 I am talking about the “process of sanctification”, which lines up with Catholic ideology and is part of the reason I am now a practicing catholic, and this ideology is not unique to Catholicism.

Buddhism prescribes to a similar philosophy and refers to the process as enlightenment. Psychologists refer “transcendence of ego” and metaphysisist’s  as expansion of consciousness.  All different words for a very similar thing, seen through filters of varying opacity. Some philosophies have it more “right” than others. 

BUT…(and this is the most important thing)

Without surrender to Christ, there is no final and permanent transformation. Philosophy can only get you so far. It is not enough to think, and to think that you “know”.

“ Only Christ has been able to transform my darkened heart and give reprieve to my tormented mind. This is how I know that God is to be found where Jesus says He is.”

In later issue’s I will discuss the philosophy of “salvation through sanctification” in more detail, and I will also discuss and compare various religions. I have prescribed to the ideologies of most and practiced many of their rituals, and I have learned a thing or two in the process. Exciting things that I am excited to share with you all.

Thank you for taking the time to read. I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments.

I’ll end this issue with a quote.

“God waits for us to stop suffering our suffering. He waits for us to say “enough!” Of this world, of it’s evils…of our evils. He waits, He forgives,  He enlightens and transforms, anyone who asks.”

May Jesus find you exactly where you are.