My mind on Christianity

Raised as a Christian, as a child I accepted what my parents and my pastors told me to be the truth. Now, experiencing heavy cognitive dissonance, I need to distance myself from everything I have been taught, investigate everything and find my own path. This article is the expression of my mind today on Christianity - from the beginning till the present.

God’s created liability
Some thousand or millions years ago, God created the human species in His own image. Created in character like Him, but not in His physical abilities, for we are obviously limited. Moreover, He calls us His children, meaning that we are His sons and daughters. By creating us, He created a huge liability to himself, because He loves us dearly. He did not create us because He needs us, he created us simply for love. Perhaps he created us for the same reason we want sons and daughters of our own, likewise creating a huge liability. Liability, because from the moment a child is conceived, we naturally love this child. Even though this child may bring us down, we still choose to have this child and love it unconditionally.

Rebellion
We human species turned against Him. We wanted to be like Him, not only in character but also in unlimited physical abilities. God intended for us to live together with Him, having a relationship built on love. Love was not enough for us. Thus the consequences of such is that we removed ourselves from Him. We started to distrust Him, we started a rebellion against His rule, against his infinite glory. God allowed us to create distance between Him and us. He allowed us to live without having a relationship with our creator. However, the consequences of that was that we would die. So we united ourselves, anointing ourselves as the rulers of our own destinies. For us humans, the sky's the limit! Together we created the tower of babel. Once God divided us in speech, we dispersed from each other creating the many nations. This decreased our united power, our human glory which till today we have been working on to restore.

Restoration
After a long while, God decided to try to mend the broken relationship. He thought their might still be children who are willing to live in a relationship with Him. As the transgressions against God, nature and ourselves were many, the only way for the relationship to be restored was for the Son of God to take the blame of our rebellion. Only someone without fault could take the weight of our accumulated sin. Only the Son of God could make us right with our Creator again. He died at our hands and rose after three days, conquering the penalty of sin, death.

Now God has opened up a way for us to turn from our foolish rebellion. Foolish, because there is no life without Him, only death. He opened up the way for us to turn back to Him in a loving relationship, accepting that we would never possess the unlimited physical abilities God possesses. He still accepts us as His children. The Son of God is King of everything, and we would rule with Him. God is the supreme being who cannot be challenged. He is the beginning and the end. He is slow to get angry and full with unfailing love. He is love and He wants us to join Him in what he stands for.

Reconciliation
As King Jesus has conquered death, we no longer have to die. All human beings alive today who return to Him can already start to rule with Him. We are designed perfectly. We might often disagree as we find ourselves extremely limited in our capabilities. However, what is perfect is that we are created in His image, possessing the same character as our Creator has. If we are returning to our Father, we can share in the Father’s unlimited resources. Thus our own limitations are then negligible. It is only our character that matters. If we have a plan to restore the least of our society, character is all we needed. Resources like money, abilities and strength are at our disposal as long as our plan is aligned to what God intends for the earth. For instance, as a prince of a Kingdom goes out to battle, He himself does not posses the strength, weapons and abilities to succeed. However, if the battle is aligned to the wishes of his father the king, he will be given everything he needs to succeed.

We should stop looking at our own strength and capabilities. We should start looking at what battle needs to be fought, and everything will be provided for. We should look at what enemy should be defeated, start making a detailed plan containing strategy and all the resources needed. And all this in discussion with our Father so that our plans align, for only He came give you everything you need.

God has limited us in physical abilities. Therefore, we seek other human beings to join and be a little less limited. However, one human being fully relying on the unlimited resources of God could arguably do more in a lifetime than relying on his own strength.

Summary
The rebellion of the human species against God is like a group of toddlers rebelling against their father. These toddlers do not accept the care of their father. They want to join forces, make it on their own and together be as strong, intelligent and wise as their father. As the father loves them, he does not intend to rule them, thus he allows their rebellion. Moreover he knows that even though they join forces, they will never be as strong, intelligent and wise as him. He let them rebel and waits for them to return to him. As the time passes, these toddlers make a mess or themselves, each other and the earth they inhabit. By relying on their own limited strength, they degrade their characters to despicable actions. Their father asks them many times to return but they harden their hearts, and try harder to maintain their independence, degrading themselves, each other and the earth even more.

When we lived together with God, we lacked nothing. But as we turned against Him, we turned down His resources and wisdom. We wanted to be independent. What we didn’t realize is that there is simply no life without the Father. Everything we do without the wisdom and infinite resources of our father leads to death and destruction. Living in independence of God is like living independent from your lungs. There is no such thing! Everything created by God is dependent on Him. Nothing can exist outside of the creator.

If you follow the ways of the father, being tapped into His wisdom, there is no need degrade yourself to sinful practices. History has shown that societies who rely on the wisdom of God, thrive, and those who do not, crumble. The wisdom of God is life, everything else leads to death.

The fundamental attribution error - a life changing proposition

One of the most important things I learned in business school, two years ago during a social management and behavior class, is the fundamental attribution error, also called the correspondence bias or the attribution effect. The application of this theory in my life has made me a happier person.

The fundamental attribution error proposition was apparently thought of by social psychology professor Lee Ross (1977) after an experiment by Edward E. Jones and Victor Harris (1967). He called it the conceptual bedrock for the field of social psychology. Thus we can say he found it very important - and so do I.

When I was in my teenage years, I was quite confident in what I knew. I still remember telling my mother, that I judged myself to be pretty good at understanding why people do what they do. From then on, the older I got the less confident I became. Currently I find myself mind-blind, stumbling in the dark, finding myself resembling awfully close to the intelligence of a goat, and Jon Snow - who knows nothing.

Now what the heck is it? Let me try to explain…
When you have a certain interaction with another person, we have the tendency to attribute this person’s actions to his personal self, rather than external circumstances. Let’s just say that in most cases, for me around 80% of all cases, we tend to think that the actions of a person comes forth from his personality, rather than from outside factors. The fundamental attribution error argues that in reality it is the other way around.

Let me explain this by sharing a recent happening in which I made the error. When I fetched my daughter from daycare, I walked down the hallway to the front door which was just opened to another father who came to fetch his daughter. This big man, wearing a hat and a round sunglasses stood in front of the door opening, immovable with a cold exterior. I walked down the hallway with my daughter in my arms and greeted him. I registered no response whatsoever - his cold gaze continued looking down the hallway.

As foolish this might sound, this happening caused me to feel and think the following way - first of all I felt not acknowledged and respected, I felt like a little insignificant man. Further, these feelings let me to think this person is a prick. As I know the fundamental attribution error, I knew that I just made it. In reality it is most likely that his cold exterior countenance was due to external circumstances. Perhaps, this person was lost in his thoughts and did not hear me, or he greeted me with his eyes behind his shaded spectacles, or he just experienced a really bad day, or someone just made him feel like a little man, and so on. The correspondence bias tells us that most likely this person is actually not a prick.

So that’s basically what it is. If you’re still interested, let’s look at some of the implications...
Being aware of this particular error for two years now, I came to believe this error is one of the foundations of human miscommunication. On a personal level it can lead you to think that a lot of people around you are pricks, while they are not. On a national level it can lead in to society's thinking other societies are prick societies, while they are not. In reality, we actually have a lot more in common than we think. A good understanding of the fundamental attribution error therefore, could lead to world peace - there I said it! :p

In general, when you believe someone is a contemptible person or even an ‘evil’ person, rather than having a lot in common with yourself, you tend to restrain any further positive communication with that person. At first, you might ignore this person while feeding yourself confirmatory information supporting this person is bad. Going on, as no further communication has taken place which could liberate you from this distorted view of this person, you might actively condemn this person worsening your relationship with this person. This effect is most likely to be multiplied if this other person chooses to believe the same thing about you. There you go, a potential positive relationship to ruins by means of making the fundamental attribution error.

Sadly, you could suggest that if this happens on a personal level between one human being to another, this also takes place among nations. How many nations do you think to be prick nations, lazy nations, arrogant nations, self-serving raping donkey nations. The fundamental attribution error suggests, that most likely we are very much the same. We are no better, and no worse.

You could assert that from the beginning of humanity, we started making this error, increasing the distorted view of the other, making it worse to more worse. The accumulations of humanity’s undesirable actions against each other, would have today reached an enormous pile of guilt towards each other. Retribution after retribution does not balance the scale unfortunately, it only ads more guilt. Only forgiveness can remove guilt and a good understanding of the fundamental attribution error can prevent a person from adding more guilt.

References
Ross, L. (1977). "The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process". In Berkowitz, L. Advances in experimental social psychology 10. New York: Academic Press. pp. 173–220. ISBN 0-12-015210-X.

Jones, E. E.; Harris, V. A. (1967). "The attribution of attitudes". Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 3 (1): 1–24. doi:10.1016/0022-1031(67)90034-0.

Temporarily in contrast with Everlasting Satisfaction

This article will attempt to understand what all human beings from every time and space, are searching for in their brief existence on the planet earth. It will be assumed that all humans ever lived and will live have the same psychological make-up. Then it will try to explain what Jesus Christ has to offer according to the Bible. And finally, since the writer is extremely biased, it will try to persuade the reader why he should believe in Jesus Christ.

Oxfords dictionary defines satisfaction as the “fulfilment of one’s wishes, expectations, or needs, or the pleasure derived from this” and words similar to these are contentment, contentedness, content, pleasure, gratification, fulfilment, happiness, sense of well-being, pride, sense of achievement, delight, joy, enjoyment, relish and triumph (Oxforddictionaries.com, 2015).

As most human beings residing on the planet earth would probably agree, a high degree of satisfaction in life is what we all wish for. To find out what satisfaction for human beings means the pyramid of Abraham Maslow depicting the needs of human beings in different stages can be quite insightful. Those are (1) biological and physiological needs like air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sleep; (2) safety needs like protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, freedom from fear; (3) love and belongingness needs like friendship, intimacy, affection and love, -from work group, family, friends, romantic relationships; (4) esteem needs like achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, self-respect, respect from others; (5) cognitive needs like knowledge and meaning; (6) aesthetic needs like appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form; (7) self-actualization needs like realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences; (8) transcendence needs like helping others to achieve self actualization (McLeod, 2007).

The bible also talks about satisfactions from John four till six. There, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman by a well when he was taking a break from his travels. He asked the woman to give him some water from the well. Jesus started to talk about the ‘living water’ opposed to this natural water: “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” John 4:13b-14 (NLT). Then, for some reason Jesus asked her to get her husband on which she responded she doesn’t have one. He responded that He already knew that and that he also knows she had five other husbands before. Perhaps he said that to show the woman she has failed to satisfy her need and that Jesus is able to meet that need. Later in John six, Jesus reasons with his disciples. He said "The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” … “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:34-35 (NLT).

We all reach moments of fulfillment. Jesus says that through Him you will always be fulfilled. In John 10:10 he said ”The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 (NIV). If God truly exists and he created us, He would know exactly how his creations would be completely fulfilled. And better is that He wants to have us to life a full life. He want us to life live in the way He intended for us.

Looking at what Maslow defined our human needs to be and what God wants with us, it seems both humans and God wants the same thing for us humans, creating a win-win situation. The one and only reason human beings might frown upon God’s plan for us is that by receiving Jesus’ living water and bread, we ought to believe in Him. Jesus said “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” John 6:27-29 (NLT). Believing in Him entails being in agreement with God that we humans lack righteousness, and that the only way to become righteous is to believe in His redemption plan. This redemption plan is that we will live forever and have no pain and sorrow any longer. In order to believe that you would need quite some trust and an increase of trust requires time.

It would be unreasonable if God were to require you to trust Him completely right away. Only after a steady accumalitive flow, over a relative long period of time, of evidence of God’s goodness could increase trust in Him. And the more men is able to trust in Him, the more men is able to let go of himself, adopting the views of God and transform into His likeness, the likeness God has intended humans to be. The more men is able to let go of himself and the more he become like God, the less matter, in the sense of the physical environment humans live in and their bodies and mind, affects their life.

The reason why matter has a less affect on human beings once they believe and adopt God’s message is because of a few fundamental truths. First of all identity: God is our creator and our Father. He has made us perfectly and He loves us unconditionally. Secondly, He is our provider: when you come to believe that everything comes from God and believe that you are completely dependent on Him, you do not need to fear shortages of material and intellectual needs, thus as a side effect you would become more generous. Third, God gives eternal life. You do not need to fear dead because once you die you are raised to live and continue to live forever. The apostle Paul puts it like this: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21 (NIV). For those who believe that, the focus of what is important in life shifts from “Life is short and I only live once” to “What can I do to serve Jesus Christ”. Basically, a person who would truly believe in God’s goodness, would be free from worry. That person would believe that whatever happens to them, God is good and will make things right.

The satisfaction God has intended for humans transcends Maslow's pyramid. Maslow’s highest degree of satisfaction is accessible only to those who are able to go through the lower stages, which are currently less than one billion people. God’s model of satisfaction is accessible to all seven billion of us and promises a much higher degree of satisfaction. However, it comes at a cost much higher. As Jesus said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me (Luke 9:23 (NIV).

References
McLeod, S. (2007). Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Simply Psychology. Retrieved 2 February 2015, from http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

Oxforddictionaries.com,. (2015). satisfaction - definition of satisfaction in English from the Oxford dictionary. Retrieved 2 February 2015, from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/satisfaction

Supreme being's redemption plan in a nutshell

What is the whole deal with Christianity? Why would anyone become a Christian? What is it all about, really? In general most people don't like marketers who market their product as something it isn't or only reveal a half truth about it. Therefore it can be imagined that a non-Christian, would want Christian's to be straight with him/her about what they believe in. In general, people wouldn't want to sign up for something and then find out later what the real implications are of being a Christian – what it really is all about. Considering this, I will take my given liberty, to take a shot laying out the gospel in a way which is hopefully simple to understand.

Earth: state of affairs

The future is going to be really, really good! That is because I believe that there is one God who is the greatest living being in the universe. He sees everything, can do everything, can be everywhere. There is no living being, greater then He is. Furthermore, this God says He embodies love! He is love! Many times he has said about Himself, “I am merciful, full of unfailing love, compassionate and slow to get angry”.

Did the universe came to existence by mere chance?

Today, most people alive believe in the theory of macro evolution. That is that everything perceivable by our human senses came into being by chance. It started with the ‘big bang’. In a incredible short time the universe expanded from an incredible tiny singular point to the gigantic universe with all its energy we know today. Stars came into existence, died, birthed and created all the elements our world consists of. A few billion years later enough various elements were formed to create planets, like our earth. Then later a piece of matter clashed into the earth of which the earth absorbed most. The rest flew in orbit around the earth and clot together creating the moon. A few more billion years and earth had all the right elements, the right position in the universe to create life. That life evolved and voila, here we are.

Tower of Babel

I am a fool, and by my human and personal limitations, nothing can possibly ever change that. Limited by strength, will, intelligence, time, space, and I can imagine a multiple of other factors, I will never be able to obtain perfect wisdom and knowledge. I can not stand human counter parts who pride themselves as they are God, a being who has and is perfect wisdom and knowledge. As far as I can imagine a perfect being, if the human species were to be set on a imaginary measuring tape of a kilometre long, scaling intelligence, and God is a perfect 1000 meter, the average animal species a visual 0 meter, we'd be visually on 0 meter also. So much for my visualizations, excuse me.