"within YOU." Christianity may have a problem in that it may have begun the cult of individualism, or individual- focused thinking (with some hero worship too). Everything is about YOU and YOUR relation to God, and salvation of the individual. Your sins, life as your own moral test to get YOU in to heaven. Your own individual prayers asking God for stuff for YOU.
Caitlin is right, the problems we have go well beyond the individual. It is funny, I was going to highlight the exact same paragraph:
"Our entire culture — movies, schoolbooks, religions etc — tells us to always be looking for heroes. Tells us to look outside ourselves for celebrated leaders who will show us where to go. And I just think that's a terrible dereliction of duty — of our duty to find the truth for ourselves"
And just add the emphasis that all these cultural influences celebrating heroes tend to rob people of agency, or even the imagination that they need to actively participate in change, rather than just sit back and spectate the elevated heroes as the heroes 'fight for us' and solve the problems we face. Heroes or true leaders (maybe MLK for example) need to be backed by millions of active, engaged, informed and motivated supporters willing to get out there and sacrifice time, resources, and maybe even their own life and limb.
And I would also emphasize that nobody is capable of finding truth by themselves. We are all born malleable idiots that could become Nazis or raving street preachers under the right circumstances. You need support, dozens of helpers present and past to find the truth. Caitlin is one of the present voices that does seem to match up with reality! :) You have to develop a critical brain capable of looking at the world, listening or reading what other people are saying about it, then deciding what actually matches up to your own experience. Unfortunately not everyone during childhood and adolescence under our system of education, family, and community is equipped with broad critical thinking, empathy, and access to historical truths.
"within you" is only 1 part in getting the FAITH into Practise. There are many other Biblical insights that must be taken into consideration.
We all went astray like sheep, we have turned, each one on his way, and the Lord accepted his prayers for the iniquity of all of us.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he would not open his mouth; like a lamb to the slaughter he would be brought, and like a ewe that is mute before her shearers, and he would not open his mouth.
From imprisonment and from judgment he is taken, and his generation who shall tell?
For he was cut off from the land of the living; because of the transgression of my people, a plague befell them.
And he gave his grave to the wicked, and to the wealthy with his kinds of death, because he committed no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
One of the rules for everyone is if we don't forgive others their SINS, God will not forgive US OUR SINS. As for SINS, personally I like Archery definition of SIN. SIN is the degree we fall short of hitting the the Perfect Mark of the BULLSEYE!
It still boggles my mind to understand the heights and the depth of the Love of Chris., Enduring the pain and torture in his Human flesh of Crucifixion, he could say, 'Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing!' That is True to this very Day!
This is one incident I went through practising the FAITH in my Curriculum Vitae 47 years ago,
"within YOU." Christianity may have a problem in that it may have begun the cult of individualism, or individual- focused thinking (with some hero worship too). Everything is about YOU and YOUR relation to God, and salvation of the individual. Your sins, life as your own moral test to get YOU in to heaven. Your own individual prayers asking God for stuff for YOU.
Caitlin is right, the problems we have go well beyond the individual. It is funny, I was going to highlight the exact same paragraph:
"Our entire culture — movies, schoolbooks, religions etc — tells us to always be looking for heroes. Tells us to look outside ourselves for celebrated leaders who will show us where to go. And I just think that's a terrible dereliction of duty — of our duty to find the truth for ourselves"
And just add the emphasis that all these cultural influences celebrating heroes tend to rob people of agency, or even the imagination that they need to actively participate in change, rather than just sit back and spectate the elevated heroes as the heroes 'fight for us' and solve the problems we face. Heroes or true leaders (maybe MLK for example) need to be backed by millions of active, engaged, informed and motivated supporters willing to get out there and sacrifice time, resources, and maybe even their own life and limb.
And I would also emphasize that nobody is capable of finding truth by themselves. We are all born malleable idiots that could become Nazis or raving street preachers under the right circumstances. You need support, dozens of helpers present and past to find the truth. Caitlin is one of the present voices that does seem to match up with reality! :) You have to develop a critical brain capable of looking at the world, listening or reading what other people are saying about it, then deciding what actually matches up to your own experience. Unfortunately not everyone during childhood and adolescence under our system of education, family, and community is equipped with broad critical thinking, empathy, and access to historical truths.
"within you" is only 1 part in getting the FAITH into Practise. There are many other Biblical insights that must be taken into consideration.
We all went astray like sheep, we have turned, each one on his way, and the Lord accepted his prayers for the iniquity of all of us.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he would not open his mouth; like a lamb to the slaughter he would be brought, and like a ewe that is mute before her shearers, and he would not open his mouth.
From imprisonment and from judgment he is taken, and his generation who shall tell?
For he was cut off from the land of the living; because of the transgression of my people, a plague befell them.
And he gave his grave to the wicked, and to the wealthy with his kinds of death, because he committed no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
One of the rules for everyone is if we don't forgive others their SINS, God will not forgive US OUR SINS. As for SINS, personally I like Archery definition of SIN. SIN is the degree we fall short of hitting the the Perfect Mark of the BULLSEYE!
It still boggles my mind to understand the heights and the depth of the Love of Chris., Enduring the pain and torture in his Human flesh of Crucifixion, he could say, 'Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing!' That is True to this very Day!
This is one incident I went through practising the FAITH in my Curriculum Vitae 47 years ago,
https://rayjc.com/2011/03/01/a-day-in-the-life/