Posted by Roberta Grimes • December 03, 2017 • 27 Comments
Afterlife Research, Jesus, The Teachings of Jesus
After a supernatural experience at the age of eight I have spent most of my leisure time in two parallel pursuits: exhaustively studying the afterlife evidence, and reading the Christian Bible repeatedly. This is such an odd combination of interests that I may be the only person on earth with the knowledge and experience to compare what the dead have to say about God, reality, death, the afterlife, and the meaning and purpose of human life with the actual Gospel words of Jesus.
And the greatest discovery of my life has been the fact that the dead agree with Jesus! In amazing detail. How wonderful is that? We can demonstrate now that Jesus is real, and that He must have come directly from God because He knew things two thousand years ago that He never could have known otherwise. Wow.
Those that we used to think were dead have a lot to say about Christianity too, and here the news is not supportive. These are some of the many things that we learn from people now in a position to know:
the sort that Christians feel the need to ascribe to their God.
So Jesus is real, but Christianity is not. In fact, modern Christianity is nothing more than a first-century Jewish sect, with its fear-based Old Testament teachings hardly tempered at all by the Lord’s Gospel words. I have never known a devout Christian in all my years of Christian worship who sought to follow the teachings of Jesus first of all, above the dictates of religion, but that is precisely what the Lord commands! He says, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (JN 8:31-32) And He tells us repeatedly in various ways not to package his teachings in Judaism, but rather to keep them separate (His followers called His teachings “the Way”). He says, “And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.” (MK 2:22)
The Gospel teachings of Jesus are the surest route to rapid spiritual growth. That certainly has been true for me, and I am convinced now these teachings work for everyone as I hear from more and more delighted people!
But the fact that Christianity as it is practiced has nothing to do with the genuine Jesus presents a problem for those of us who want to teach the Lord’s truths to our children and grandchildren. I have been learning from readers of Liberating Jesus that every children’s book about Jesus they can find is full of fear-based religious teachings. So then we’ll just have to write our own books! The Fun of Meeting Jesus is the first in a series of read-aloud and early-reader picture-books based exclusively in the genuine Gospels. It was published just in time for Christmas, and early reports are that children love it. Parents are enjoying it too! There is a section for parents, so these books can be used to teach children the simple steps toward healthy spiritual growth devoid of fear that are what Jesus came to give us.
He said, “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will
find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (LK 11: 9-10) The greatest gift we can give to our children is a comfortable relationship with the genuine Jesus. Following those simple Gospel lessons is the key to comfortable spiritual growth that truly can make their whole lives joyous!
It is about the greatest gift to give a child; the introduction to spirituality. In our modern times, there is an impediment to children getting a spiritual education. My blog for Spindrift speaks of this blockage of spirituality for the youth: https://www.spindriftresearch.org/blog/.
Thank you for your comment, Bill! I so much agree, and I think it is this dearth of genuine spirituality that is the biggest reason why western culture is now so much adrift. There is no human happiness greater than what can come from a genuine spiritual grounding!
Hello Roberta, how do you know what the dead agree with? As they can’t communicate with you , unless u have medium abilities really or are u talking about peoples experiences in NDE s ? Pauline xx
I am not a medium, but the dead have been communicating through gifted mediums for nearly 200 years. And since all those hundreds of communications have been perfectly consistent, we now have a very good understanding of what is real and what actually is going on!
NDEs aren’t death, of course, so they don’t offer us any evidence about what actually happens after death.
During my time supporting Special Needs children I sat by in silent horror at the nonsense our very youngest students were subjected to by the education system. All delivered by career teachers who knew nothing more than the minimum our National Curriculum demanded they deliver. I took heart, though, that for most children it would mean little and they wouldn’t retain what they’d heard.
But what chance is there for our little ones to properly learn about life, about death and about what will happen afterwards? And from whom will they learn?
It heartens me to know that you care so much, and that so many people actually do care about giving children a better start! My particular concern is the fear that so many children learn in Christian Sunday schools, since it is that very fear that makes their ever growing spiritually effectively impossible. But seeing the problem at last is our first step in solving it!
WE can see what needs to change, Roberta, but getting faceless education systems to change can be hard. And learning about the spiritual nature of life often appears a personal journey rather than something that is taught.
Although Sunday Schools are rare where I live, elementary education is the problem. Beyond elementary, religion isn’t given much attention by the curriculum other than in faith schools. Elsewhere just the legal minimum of religious education is delivered and I’m thankful for that.
Dear Mac, the only change agent really is ourselves. Spiritual growth is an entirely personal journey – religions can be of no help at all; and once we have raised our own spiritual vibrations sufficiently, since we are all essentially one being, we can help to raise everyone else’s vibration as well!
Yes I agree, Roberta. Awakening is a personal journey of discovery but it’s a sad fact that religious teaching and the way it’s delivered, are prescribed by law. No matter how we individually may raise our own spiritual awareness our impact on the young is limited by our being unable to reach them. Even if their parents and protectors were amenable to that.
I am going to order this for myself in about two seconds! I always need reminders of Jesus’ love for me and all of this, and this book seems great for that and beautifully illustrated with his energy. Thanks, Roberta! Jesus is the best.
Thank you, Corey! I do love knowing that more and more people are coming to know Jesus now not as the crucified sacrifice but in truth as what He is and always meant Himself to be in our lives: as our elder brother, our Wayshower, our best friend.
What a good idea. Positive messages about Jesus or any other religious figure can make such a difference. This way, instead of scary, threatening messages, based on fear, kids will be free of all the negativity that was instilled in the kids during previous generations.
Yes, Lola! Amen! It really does feel now that we are at the threshold of an entirely different – and much healthier – relationship with Spirit!
Great Post Roberta I am thankful that finally the real truth is coming out keep up the good work (inspirational) Love and blessings Danny
Thank you, Danny!
GREAT READING ROBERTA AS IS ALL OF YOUR WRITINGS, HAVE A GREAT FESTIVE SEASON AND A GREAT NEW YEAR GOD BLESS. GARY….AUSTRALIA.
Thank you, Gary! Blessings to you from this end of the planet, and I hope your holidays and your 2018 will be the best ever!!
As I am growing and learning in awareness of our true nature, I am questioning the belief system I was raised in. I learned to pray to a Heavenly Father, to express gratitude, ask for favors and blessings, then close with, “in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.” In my religious tradition, God is a benevolent man on a throne in heaven who requires obedience and righteousness and yes, who required his son be crucified to save us from our sins and ensure our resurrection- with the hope that our spirit and body will reunite at Christ’s second coming. So Roberta, this belief is untrue? Whom do we pray to?
Dear Kitty, none of what you and I were reared to believe is true. God is in fact infinite, perfect love, and God is all that exists! God never takes human form, nor does God judge us, and of course Jesus didn’t die for our sins. God is infinitely greater and more perfect than anything we ever were taught to believe, and in fact Jesus came to us as God on earth! What is true is much more wonderful than anything we ever could have imagined when we were stuck in that old fear-based religion. To whom do you pray? To the God of which you are a precious part. And all your prayers should be gratitude affirmations, since God loves you perfectly and knows even before your prayer everything that you might ever want or need.
Hello Roberta, how do u know what the dead agree with , you can’t really speak to them unless you have medium abilities. Are you talking about peoples experiences in NDE s? Actually, what you write, I’ve always thought was true about jesus and god. I find religion more manmade and threatening. Pauline xxx
But murderers better put themselves in hell or its like we are able to do what we want in life and get away with it. Pauline xxx
Pauline, there is no hell, and the only post-death judgment is by ourselves. Those who have done something so grievous that they have trouble forgiving themselves will often put themselves into the lowest post-death level, which Jesus called the Outer Darkness… it’s cold, dark, smelly, and disgusting, and people can’t get out of it on their own so they generally have to be rescued. Not good at all!
Pauline, I answered your first question just prior to this one. And yes, religions are indeed man-made! And they are based in fear, so they get in the way of our ability to grow spiritually.
Hi, I am not much of a gospel scholar nor a language expert, but to me the “Our Father” words ARE in fact a prayer of Thanksgiving and affirmation. Jesus introduces it as such when people ask him to teach is to pray. He says what you just said, “Your Heavenly Father already knows…” I suspect that if not the words then the tone of the prayer is mistranslated. The first part, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name..” is a classic salutation. The rest goes on to sound like a plea, but that’s the tone part. Not “please give us this day…” but YOU give us, and YOU forgive us…” not please forgive us. Even Pope Francis has just said that the English translation is amiss. God does not lead us into temptation so we don’t have to beg God not to. This prayer ends with a powerful reminder to US not to God that God is “the power, the glory.” It’s a great prayer of affirmation and thanks. Too bad it’s buried under so much since the meaning and context is actually right there in Jesus’ reply to the inquiry on how to pray.
Hello Mike! Wonderful points, of course, and I should add that I personally offer this prayer every day – God hears what we are thinking and not the literal words, anyway.
The crucial thing for us to remember when we read the words of Jesus in the Gospels is that He was teaching us eternal truths under impossible conditions! He had come to teach us those eternal truths, to wean us from man-made religion based on human ideas of God, and to help us learn to relate directly to the genuine God; but for Him to have spoken directly against the prevailing religion would have meant an immediate death sentence. So for him to remain alive even for the three years that He managed to do that required a very careful word-dance! That’s why we see Him referring to “God,” even knowing that people were imagining their false God, and then trying to teach them about the genuine God. It’s why He gave us part-truths one day, and then completed those truths on another day. And the Lord’s Prayer is another example of His need to carefully parse words! It is wonderful that – as you point out – we are at last becoming sophisticated enough spiritually to see the truths that He was trying to convey to us.
Hey Roberta! I appreciate the time you take to answer our questions.
How do you understand this passage?
“Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:15
It implies that there are those whose names are not in the book of life, and that there is eternal torment for humans.
Hello D’Arcy! What you have written here is a snippet from one of many “end-times” accounts that were circulating in the late third and early fourth centuries. In the year 325 the Book of Revelation was included in the Bible by the Council of Nicaea, but of course it is just revenge-porn nonsense created by persecuted Christians. It directly contradicts what Jesus says in the Gospels, for heaven’s sake! Read only the Gospels – and only the words that Jesus spoke in the Gospels about love, forgiveness, the nature of God, and the meaning and purpose of human life, since the Council of Nicaea added end-times garbage to the Gospels as well. Trust Jesus, and ignore the rest!