There are
three degrees of spirituality. God
centered spirituality, human centered spirituality, and there is religious
spirituality. There are no hard boundaries, we are free to live with all three
understandings or only one. Depending on
our life circumstances and choices, we are free to move from one to the other
or to remain in place. The choice is ours and the most important first and most
difficult choice is to own our own spiritual potential, becoming a spiritual being
of some sort.
These three,
however, are the only choices. All three
spiritual realities are lived out in our lives and the lives of all biblical
characters. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were flawed people yielding their lives to
God centered spirituality. When this
spirituality was written down on stone tablets a religion was born and placed
the believer in a quandary, to live with eternity in view or to live according
to other men, men who may or may not represent God centered spirituality.
Jesus was a
100% pure God centered spiritual crusader.
He understood the ins and outs of religious spirituality and he knew
that this kind of spirituality will inevitably yield a self-righteous spirit
that is anti-God. He stood up to religious
spirituality advocates every day of his three-year ministry. They were like dogs snapping at his heels and
finally put him on the cross.
I believe
that this understanding of spirituality should be the first stop in searching
for the context of every biblical passage.
G, Goslaw
Landers, Ca
