Things that are nice to believe
Responding to bad beliefs with things that nice to believe.
Believe: I honour myself as a person who knows how to
treat others.
The belief that somebody suffered and died to pay for our sins. How much better
it is to see that our mistakes are in the past and therefore do not need
atonement.
My mistakes do not need forgiveness. They are done. Nothing can undo them. But I
have learned and grown through them. They have blessed me.
The belief that we owe worship to divine beings. If we worship, it is an act of
generosity. They do not need it so there is no duty to give it to them. We
prefer people, even Gods to look after us through generosity than through a
sense of duty. And we would expect God to be the same. Real honour of the gods
denies that we owe them anything. If they have any sense, the only honour they
will want is us getting the best out of life and using their gifts.
The belief that all are not equal, that there should be a caste or a clergy
system.
I am equal to others though I have many differences from them. What is unique
about me makes me special just the way I am.
The belief that evil spirits are guiding those who deny the doctrines you say
are true - even if evil spirits existed it does not follow that they approve of
every evil that somebody does. Somebody could throw a spanner in the works in
relation to their evil plans. Doctrines that certain kinds of people are the
pawns of wicked demons, especially demons that supposedly want to destroy
humankind and drag us to Hell, are an incitement and provocation to hatred.
The belief that demons can possess the bodies of living people. This belief
suggests that it is possible in theory for any mentally ill person to be
possessed or at least under demonic influence. Such an idea is dangerous and
leads mentally-ill people to fear demons and suffer far more. The belief can
attract negative thoughts and forces that start to behave as if they were a
demonic entity. Beliefs become things. There are no demons but negative powers
can act like demons. This idea helps the mentally-ill person to see that they
need to change their beliefs.
The belief that the stars influence us. This can and must lead to discrimination
against people because of what their birth chart is supposed to say. I must
realise that nothing influences me. Not God. Not the stars. Nobody influences
me. Nobody ever has done. Nobody must condemn me because of the stars.
I make my own fate. Fate does not make me or control me. I influence myself. I
influence myself by what others do and say. I am free.
The belief that it is selfish and prideful to use use belief to make you happy
is a horrible one. Those who believe it are the selfish ones.
The belief that I must hate my sins. If there is an all-perfect God of infinite
goodness that means that sin is infinitely or immeasurably hated by him and I
must hate sin to love him. I refuse to fall prey to the idea that I must judge
myself but not judge others. I do not sacrifice my value to the value of others.
I do not sacrifice my value to the idea of God. I reject it to exalt myself to
my rightful place.
The belief that however bad things get, we must remember that we are very lucky
for there are so many people worse off than us. This really means that you can
feel happy that they were the ones struck with worse misfortune rather than
yours. To do that is to affirm that others should use negative affirmations so
that they can be the lucky ones and not you! Religions that claim to be
necessary to improve people give the members an additional excuse for claiming
to be lucky. They think they are lucky to be in such a religion. People are not
luckier when they hear the message we have. The message is already in their
hearts. What we are doing is excavating the knowledge they have for it dwells
inside them. Sometimes, it dwells very deeply inside them. If people do not use
and live the message they can't complain about being unlucky. It was their
choice.
The belief that God lived on earth in the past and has given us a Bible. The
belief that we can only have perfect happiness in a future Heaven. These beliefs
say that the past and the future are more important than the present. Failing to
forgive says the past is more important than the present. Forgiving is
accepting. You must not only forgive the past but the future as well. You cannot
forgive a future of eternal damnation. Beliefs that focus on the past and the
future are denying your right to enjoy the present moment and are working to
spoil it. They are negative affirmations. Surrender to the present. The present
is real now - not the past and not the future. Therefore the present alone
matters. Don't see it as bad or good or as not so good or as good. Don't judge
it. Surrendering to it means you are not going to upset yourself by judging it
or condemning it and by looking for something to fear. The present just is.
Some faiths say that the future is the most important because it can bring us
everlasting happiness in Heaven or everlasting torment in Hell. In fact, if the
future is that important then the end justifies the means. There is no
difference between doing right or doing wrong if the present may be degraded. To
degrade the present is to degrade the future as well. If the present is to be
treated as dirt then what justification can there be for respecting the future?
Surrender is not, "I don't care any more." That is resentment.
Surrender is not, "I resign myself to these terrible things that are happening
in my life."
Surrender is simply accepting that terrible things happen and not judging them.
Surrender does not mean you do must do nothing about them. After all, if you do
nothing you are still doing something! Surrender is being at peace despite all
the bad things and means you peacefully work to better things. It means you work
for the better because you are not lumbered with anger or resentment etc.
Surrender allows you to make space to let yourself to accept the bad things that
happen without fear and without negative reactions. Surrender makes sure that
the bad things do not affect your inner state. Surrender does not mean you try
to surrender. You make space for the surrendering to happen by itself. And it
will. You don't try. Good works have nothing to do with salvation.
In surrender, you don't think about what happens. You simply observe without
evaluating.
When you surrender, you affirm that inner peace must be yours. It is a powerful
affirmation. For it to work, it is vital that beliefs such as that prayer is the
most important thing be seen as a block. Shed the belief and the peace will be
yours.
Believe that you accept all and that you surrender to the present.
The belief that abortion, euthanasia and suicide are moral or religious matters when they are health subjects.
Abortion, suicide and euthanasia are not moral issues but
health issues. They are the core matters. Nothing else matters as much. But as
they are medical and social matters and nothing else it follows that we are
deceived about how useful and honest our moral systems are! A religion or
Messiah that has nothing morally to say to them is worthless and unimportant.
They may speak but to fulminate morally against a health matter is foolish.
Their voice does not count.
The belief that we must love the sinner and hate the sin. To hate the sin is to
feel a personal animosity - it is another way of saying you hate what the sin says
about the sinner. It is the sinner you hate. You also hate yourself for you are
provoking a negative emotion such as fear and anger and disgust. Such feelings
do you no favours but do harm to you.
Give yourself permission to have bad feelings and negative emotions. See them as
okay as they are. Don't judge them. You may decide you mustn't have them. Don't.
Resist the urge to judge them and they will just disappear. Reject belief in
sin. Do not believe in Jesus the saviour from sin. He is the enemy.
Loving the sinner and hating the sin is not the same as "See the good in people,
not the bad." In fact, it says you have to see the bad as well. If you refuse to
see the bad, then you don't see the sinner as a sinner. That leaves you thinking
that there is no sinner to love!
To say, "See the good in people, not the bad", is to accuse people of having a
bad side. There is no bad side. There is only good. What we call bad does not
exist. What is called bad is really just warped good.
The proper belief is that: There are no sins. The archer who misses the mark is
not a sinner. I do not hate his mistake. I celebrate the good in it and urge him
on to better things. Mistakes prove he can do better. Everything is just fine
the way it is.
The belief that a wafer is really a man, the most important man who ever lived
Jesus Christ. Or that Jesus or any man is God and infallible. Religious people
laugh at people who make what they call are mad or strange claims. Jesus was
allegedly laughed at for saying he was God. This is persecution of opinions just
because they are uncommon or new. Religion makes claims that sound totally
insane but because we are used to hearing them and desensitised we don't think
of them as insane or feel they are. Yet it would sneer at "strange" new
doctrines. Avoid such bigotry. Live the message of love that we present and be
the light. The light will take away the shadows.
No god or idol is as important as me in my life. I radiate the powers of a
divine being and through me the world evolves. It is I people must bow before if
they want to have an idol! I will bless them with good so they do themselves a
favour!
There is a bit of humour in this affirmation. Affirmations are not meant to be
dour and solemn! No - our DIY faith is meant to be all about fun! And the
affirmation is not arrogant but reflects the fact that self-love not god-love or
any other kind of love is what you have to ground your life on to receive
happiness and you need to receive happiness to give it. The love another has for
you will do you no good at all if you don't cherish and appreciate yourself and
stop taking yourself seriously. You are actually failing to love them by acting
as if their love is a waste and making them feel that.
The belief that I am so lucky to exist for my parents could have had another
baby but not me. I am so grateful that God made me instead of somebody else.
That is saying that if somebody else was born instead of you they should be
delighted that they exist and not you! Christianity teaches that God exists
because he is perfect and not out of luck. We say the same thing but about
ourselves not God for we are the only real God there is.
To those who grieve, you have lost a loved one. Grieve. Let yourself feel what
you will. Give yourself time to see that the loved one is literally you now and
exists in your heart. Therefore to celebrate their life by enjoying your own and
taking all the opportunities life sends is the best way to honour them.
You don't need to get drunk or drugged to be great! Yet you think I need
to drink alcohol and take drugs. Doing these things to excess is a denial that
you are wonderful as you are. They attract harmful unseen forces to you. They
empower negative affirmations. This is not about anybody laying down laws
forbidding you to do these things. It is about helping you to see that you are
special and worth so much more. Our DIY faith is not about legal power or
authority.