Imagine being stuck in a hole which you cannot climb out of...a hole you dug yourself. You thought there would be some treasure under the ground and so you dug the hole. However, you did not find treasure, you only trapped yourself. The hole could cave in at any time. How do you get out?
Imagine there was a law against selfishness, and you were caught and placed into a jail cell. The jail had solid concrete walls and thick iron bars, so there was no way to escape. How would you get out?
There are millions of scenarios such as these that we could invent...situations where you are trapped physically somewhere with no way out. While you are probably not physically trapped somewhere, as we have seen, you are trapped to some degree by self-pride, fear and selfishness. While they are invisible, the bonds are none-the-less real and stronger than perhaps any physical situation you will ever find yourself in. Human pride likes very much to deny that I am bound in anyway. Human pride likes to think that I don't have any significant problems and I am certainly not trapped by anything. This is the delusion of human pride...if we cannot see our bonds, we will never escape them.
There is one thing in common with all the scenarios about being trapped, bound or not being free...that one thing is that we need someone else to help us escape...to show us the way out. We need someone to put a rope or ladder down into the pit we are stuck in. We need someone to open the jail cell so that we can walk out. In the case of the strongest bonds that keep us captive, we need someone to set us free from self-pride, fear and selfishness. But not only do we need someone to set us free, we need someone who can help us not repeat the same error and thus make ourselves captive again, and we need something more...we need someone to help train us to become people who can help set other people free.
As human beings, we were clearly created by some marvelous Designer. To look at an automobile, for example, and believe that it randomly designed and constructed itself, is both irrational and unreasonable. And yet, the human body alone - not considering our soul for a moment - makes the most advanced machines of men look like poorly designed children's toys. Our inter-related systems that are dependent upon each other for the whole to function - like respiratory and circulatory and nervous and digestive, etc. - require a Designer. Our bodies defense system - with its anti-bodies and immune systems - make the most automated defense system look like a five year old boy's creation. Our body's ability to self-heal is incredible and requires an Incredible Designer. Our ability to replicate/procreate is amazing and requires an Amazing Designer. The immensely complex genetic code that directs the formation of our bodies makes the most complicated human process language look like the communication language of frogs. Perhaps the greatest fairy tale currently told is that random acts of physical forces created the amazing things that are the living biological systems that grace the planet.
So, this all leads to some very good news...the Designer did not leave us without instructions for living the human life. The Creator knew that we would choose to be naturally ruled by pride and fear and selfishness (darkness), and so He provided a solution so that we could be what He intended...people guided by reason and love, by truth and compassion for others.
The Creator or Designer of the human race sent The Solution...the One Person who can set us free from self-pride, fear and selfishness...free from the darkness which seeks to control our soul and direct our life. The Creator sent a Freedom Giver, Leader, Guide, Teacher and Comforter. Here are some of the things he said...
"I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."
"I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who trusts in me shall not remain in darkness."
"If you listen to me and continue in my words and teachings, then you will be my student or pupil; and then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
"If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.", or
'I am the sure Way Home to your Father, I can give you all the important Truth you will ever need, and I am Life eternal for those who have faith in me.'
Do you want to be set free? Do you see your need for his Light to dispel your darkness? Can you acknowledge you are bound and are living a life that is guided by self-pride and/or fear and/or selfishness? Can you see that even with your Christian religion, YOU ARE STILL GUIDED BY SELF-PRIDE AND/OR FEAR AND/OR SELFISHNESS? Can you consider the possibility that your Christian or Bible religion has made your condition worse?
Do you want to remain in the darkness that your pride, fear and selfishness cause you to be in? Or do you want to get free from your pride, fear and selfishness and come out of the darkness which you have grown used to and perhaps comfortable in? Please consider the following story...
There once was a father who had a son named Austin and a daughter named Rebecca that he loved very much. The dad was very good to his son and daughter and treated them very well and did all he could to train and encourage them to be a good and honorable people. The dad planned on having his son take over the business once the son was ready. As the son grew and entered into adulthood, his appreciation for his dad, his dad's efforts to raise him, and his dad's provisions waned and grew dim. The son got his eye on the city and the life it appeared to offer. The young man did not see the value in a working with his dad nor did he see why his dad valued the things that he did...simple, real things. The daughter, on the other hand, loved and honored her dad and was sad to see her brother's appreciation and love for their dad wane. So the son asked his dad if he could please have his half of what the dad was saving up for his son and daughter. The dad, being wise, knew he could not force his son to be a good and honorable person, so he did not try and hold onto his son, but rather let him go and gave him half the inheritance. The dad was very hurt that his son had rejected him and his wisdom and choose to live contrary to the way he was raised, but he did not allow that hurt to manifest into anger against his son.
The son left his dad and mom and sister and was excited to go make a life for himself in the city earning lots of money.
He was excited for what the money could buy - all the entertainment and food and drink and games and toys that he always wanted. Even though his dad taught his son
to spend his money wisely, the son forgot that lesson and started spending down his inheritance quite quickly. So, the son spent his days looking for work and
spending his money on what tickled his fancy. He got involved with people who were seeking after the same things he was - entertainment and pleasure and fun - and
liked his spending money on them as well. Life was a party for the young man for several months, until the money ran out. Those whom he thought were his friends,
abandoned him once they saw he didn't have any more money to spend. Since he was not able to get a high paying job, and he choose an apartment that was too
expensive for his means, he soon found himself evicted. He went to various people who he spent a good deal of money buying their stuff and asked if they could
please help him in his hour of need, and they looked at him like he was crazy. Soon, he found himself on the street, begging for people to please provide him enough
money to eat. The autumn turned into winter, and a recession his the nation's economy. The young man could not find any work, and even the charities started to
dry up. The son had thought about going back to his dad and mom, but his self-pride and fear would not allow it...he could not face his father after having wasted
half of his dad's inheritance on foolish, stupid, selfish stuff.
Then one day, as the son was cleaning the bathroom of a bar, which was the only work he could find - and eating stuff he found in the dumpster - he remembered how
well his dad treated his employees. His dad would provide them with a good lunch, and even had a guest quarters on the property that they could use if they needed.
So the young man thought, 'I'll go beg my dad to hire me as an employee without having to pay me, and maybe eventually he'll let me stay in the guest house!'
So the young man ran to the bus station and headed home. He was praying that his dad would not be angry with him and reject him and send him away due to his
wrongattitude and behavior, for he knew that is what he deserved. Now the dad and mom and daughter had a dog, and the dog missed the young man. So, when the young
man got off the bus and was walking back home, the dog could see or hear the young man coming. So the dog ran off down the road to greet the son. The dad, who was
working in the shop, saw the dog run off barking, and went out to see what was going on. The dad saw his son walking down the road approaching the end of the
driveway. The dad was so happy that his son, his beloved son, was OK and that he was not dead in a gutter somewhere. So the dad ran down the driveway on onto the
road towards his son. The son saw his dad coming and fell to his knees, crying, with his head down and saying, "Dad, I am so sorry for what I have done...I am not
worthy to be called your son...can you please forgive me for wasting all the resources you worked so hard to save for me? Can you please forgive me for dishonoring
you with my foolish and wrong living...can you please...' But the dad interrupted the son, extended his hands for his son to take, lifted his son up, and weeping,
said to his son, "Son, I can only rejoice that you are safe and that you've come home", and the dad yelled to his employees and said, 'Guy's take the steaks out of
the freezer and put them on the grill'; and he called to his wife and said, 'Honey, make Austin's favorite cake'; and he called to his daughter, Rebecca, and said,
'please go and get Austin's motorbike out of storage, for we are going to celebrate Austin's return, for he was lost, but now is found, he was dead, and has been
re-born! Rejoice!
Dear reader, can you identify with this story? This story is the potential story for every human being ever born. You see, we either are or were all lost, in darkness, ruled by self-pride, fear and selfishness...we turned our back on the One Person who loves us the most...we might have had religion but we had no faith. We entered into this darkness normally sometime during our teenage years. The spirit we had as children - innocent and open - died. As children, we listened to others - those we trusted - to understand what our life was about and what the world was about. As we turned into adults, able to think for ourselves, we decided what life was about and what the world was about for ourselves, and at that point, we entered into the darkness of the world and its ways of pride and fear and selfishness. We turned our back on our Father and his Son (if we ever heard about him)...we did not enter into faith...we might have joined a religious organization, but never entered into faith. But just like the dad in the above story, you do have a Father who loves you and who very much wants you to come Home to Him. He is not the God of bible or christian religion...the schizophrenic god who is most of the time vengeful, angry, and wrath filled and some of the time loving; nor is He the 'I don't care about what is true and right' God. Rather, He can only be known well by looking to his Son who perfectly revealed what our Father is really like. He is eager and willing to receive us IF we can see how we have wronged him and hurt other's he cares about.
The main difference between what the bible or christian religious system says about the Light and what he says himself is this - the religious system says:
"Believe some stuff about our version of God and christ, and you will go to heaven and have a good, prosperous life."
The actual Light of the world says:
"Get to know me and my Father, listen to me and do what I say, and then you will enter into
our Life...
...and your life in the world will get both difficult
and meaningful."
How can you enter into Life? How can you begin life's most meaningful journey? It starts here - acknowledge that self-pride, fear and selfishness have characterized your life; that you have ignored and dishonored your Father in spite of the fact that he gave you life; acknowledge that you have hurt others or corrupted yourself - and with those truths in your heart, be remorseful about those facts. If you are a christian of some stripe, acknowledge that your bible or christian religion - the beliefs, practices and 'church going' associated with it - are not what faith is, and that mere facts or beliefs you can recite about 'christ' do not mean you actually know, or want to know, your Father or His Messenger. If you are a 'church going' person, acknowledge that you have merely played a religious game...a shallow game...and possibly never, at your deepest level, desired to give your life away as Joshua asks.
He plainly says in Luke 14 that whoever wants to follow him MUST forsake all they deem valuable...
Don't let fear grip you, remember? Let the Freedom Giver set you free!
Turn to Joshua - trust in him or stated another way, have faith in him and the Father he reveals - make him your leader, and allow the Light to change your life, for if you really enter into faith in him, your life will change in significant ways. And then, dear reader, you will begin the Journey, and that Journey will be both difficult and the most interesting, meaningful journey you will ever embark on.
Please understand that the Light is not found in what people call the church...that the Light is not found in religion of any flavor, including Christian...and please understand that the Light is against religion for religions purpose is to hide the Light.
Click here to understand perhaps the greatest trap and danger you will face that will seek to prevent you from actually following the Light.