Begin to ponder the ultimate desired outcome for everyone in the entire world today…Would it not be a world that is peaceful and harmonious, living together as one? In order for that to happen, all must be able to be in unity and set aside foolish pride. It is clear that is not possible with the current leadership today, our world is too intertwined and deeply rooted with wickedness. Overall, man worships and places money, Earthly possessions, and himself before others more times than not. The media and the world as a whole continually teach self-centered ideologies. They push the ideas that bettering oneself is achieved by possessing extraordinary items of great monetary worth, because success and status quo are measured in how much money can be earned. While most are too concerned with maintaining a vain appearance attempting to fit into unrealistic standards, there are children who are starving all over the world, highly infectious diseases spreading like wildfire at increasing rates, numerous are homeless and dying, and the extensive list continues. Governments and others are barely doing what is possible to mitigate these real life issues and struggles, they would rather keep everyone in debt, in the dark, and under control with self-benefiting agendas.
An additional problem: who honestly takes the time to ask what motives the messages taken in on a daily basis are? Not many, who has the time, right? It’s quite subtle and easily overlooked, therefore typically subliminal. Most want to live in their illusion of being successful even though they are in debt over their heads, and turn their cheek to those who are really in need. Of course, not everyone is like this, but the majority of the world is in that bracket. Society has learned that the way to feel good is to do things for self, not for others, and to put others down, instead of building each other up.
Aside from reaping the benefits from manipulating man’s desires and self-satisfaction, the media is continually inflicting fear upon all by giving biased news based on strategized agendas. This is utterly on purpose and an attempt to distract the masses from the events truly occurring. For example, right now in America there have been countless shootings and riots, religious persecution, talk of Martial Law and FEMA camps, yet it seems most are too greatly under the influence of the media and pharmakeia to try to see through the thick haze. It is far easier to be in denial or point fingers than to stand up for what is right, especially if it does not seem to directly be affecting the person at the time. One word for it all: division. This is happening world-wide, not just in America. Rumors and set-ups of wars are ongoing and advancing the division front. This is stimulated by instilling fear. Please note, a healthy level of fear is good, the kind which is to be aware. The flip side of that is living in so much fear that it immobilizes, stunts growth, and with those factors leads to division. The key is discovering balance. However, most already can make the correlation of how selfish, greedy, and manipulating man can be, especially when in a position of power, so there is no need to continue lavishly painting the vivid flaws of man thicker on the already muddled and bleeding canvas.
Another big issue that will not allow for a harmonious world are absolutes, particularly in regards to religion. Religious absolutes more times than not drive cognitive dissonance, leaving one in fear and unable to deal with how uncomfortable the situation becomes, consequently stunting growth and furthering division. For those unaware of cognitive dissonance, it was theorized by Leon Festinger. He developed the principle of cognitive consistency which was the main concentration in his 1957 theory of cognitive dissonance. The principle is based off of the idea where one searches for consistency in their own beliefs and attitudes, no matter the subject, because the discovery of inconsistencies in two cognitions disrupts the balance of harmony. The theory is defined when one’s motive becomes irrational, or a maladaptive display of behavior occurs in order to preserve the cognitive consistency to maintain their state of harmonized balance.
Whether one wants to believe it or not, our tendencies, beliefs, attitudes, and morals are primarily hard-wired and conditioned since birth. They are a product of our environment, government, and upbringing. One may have a great background and continue that pattern, where others may not have such a great background and decide to become a victim and repeat the process or decide to change everything about the pattern they know, and of course there are those who are a mix of both. Backgrounds and conditioning are not bad things, and can change depending on many factors. It is a part of life and growing up. It is something everyone needs to think about and understand why each person believes what they believe. It can be used as a tool to reflect and gain a better understanding to discern how truth is perceived, not just for that person reflecting but for others as well.
It seems those with religious beliefs that are absolute in bias will need an extraordinary amount of evidence to convince them otherwise. Even if there is all the evidence provided and laid out, they may still doubt the accuracy or deduce their own conclusions about how their absolute is still absolutely accurate and nothing could lead their mind elsewhere, due to cognitive dissonance. Let’s look at a very simple, completely hypothetical, non-religious based example of Jack and Jill who have been in the picture perfect relationship for years, and their mutual friend Sally. One day, Sally approaches Jill with some unsettling news that Jack cheated on her and has a portion of evidence that points to the truthfulness of her claim. Jill becomes internally conflicted about this and begins to rationalize since she has had the best relationship for years, and cannot see how that claim could hold any truth. Even with Sally showing her evidence, because of biased beliefs established by Jill thinking Jack is the most amazing, trustworthy partner, she continues having a hard time believing the opposite. Jill continues to make up excuses and be in denial, and is absolutely sure her biased understanding is correct. She then ends up justifying why this evidence should be dismissed and continues to deny the possibility of Sally’s claim. Jill is then absolutely sure she holds the truth. That is how cognitive dissonance can work.
The other issue to address aside from cognitive dissonance here is the emotional factor, which tends to negate any logic moving forward. To take it a step further, most religious beliefs include an afterlife for eternity. Seeing as how eternity is a lot longer than a physical human relationship, the weight of the subject matter can be deemed greater in the case of an infinite amount of time to the finite time of a relationship, hence the denial of evidence and logic becomes greater, and cognitive dissonance can set more of a precedent. As you can see all over the world, there is continual fighting over religious absolutes because of their differences. Instead of pulling together on the similarities, love has grown cold and hate has more abundantly crept its way into many hearts, leading to further division.
Continuing with religious absolutes, the main focus will be on the three Abrahamic faiths; Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, the reason being for context and relativity. Each of these three religions all claim to be the one and only absolute truth, but how can each be absolutely sure their religion is 100% over the others? In many cases, it seems they were told it was assuredly the only way and undoubtedly black and white, making the hearsay of tradition the staple of their core belief. Even though there are many parallels created throughout each of them, in the believer’s eyes, their own religious affiliation is deemed superior to any of the others. Let’s face it, no one wants to be wrong, especially when it comes to faith in the unknown. That is how absolutes place such strongholds and immense fear over one’s emotions and mind. A religious absolute also places one to feel cast out or ashamed if they try to peek outside the box or question claims with logic or evidence. Whether knowingly or unknowingly, most are too scared to even acknowledge the possibility that there might be more to it than what they understand or have been told. To break it down into a simpler analogy, take Christianity for example, since it is a dominating title throughout the world. As of 2010, the Pew Research Center stated that 2,168,330,000 people, or 31.4% of the world’s population is classified as being “Christian”.
Also an older chart of World of Religion still shows that the Abrahamic religions make up the majority of a whole connected faith, Christianity continually being the largest branch.
Now each branch stemmed off of Christianity can be called a sect, or denomination. A denomination or sect can be defined as subdivisions of religious organizations, not just in Christianity, all tied together by similar core beliefs and text, yet usually differ in some interpretation of scripture. They either have different beliefs all together on certain topics, or just have the main focus of excluding some things other denominations might deem legitimate or place more weight upon. Simple examples of that in Christianity would be topics such as reincarnation, or Christ’s actual date of birth. Just in Christianity alone, if all sects are not fully united in the same discernment of scripture, how can each denomination or Christianity as a whole be qualified as an absolute? Does that not leave the remaining two Abrahamic faiths in question as well? For Islam, there are those who follow the Qur’an and not Hadiths, and others who follow both. For Judaism, you have the ultra-orthodox, and those who are reformed and not accepted by the ultra-orthodox, etc. If there is division in a religion regarding the understanding and discernment of scripture, it is because man is placing his understanding and discernment before God’s. God did not seem to have the intention of dividing everyone, only trying to unify.
On the other hand, because all three faiths have those essential core parallels, one can begin to see that they are all very similar. In taking the absolute of right or wrong out of these three faiths, one can open their mind and heart to finding truth. As the old saying goes, “the truth will set you free”. There is no feasible way man can have it absolutely correct because man is flawed. So how can there be multiple absolute religions? There cannot, for if that is true, only one can be the truth. It is man’s interpretation, man’s understanding, and man’s philosophy. There are countless non-secular and secular ancient texts corroborating each other, many with just slight differences pointing towards the main core parallels of the three Abrahamic faiths. If man could stop pointing out the differences and come together with the similarities, the pieces of truth would look more like nice smoothed-edged puzzle pieces that fit together exquisitely as a whole picture to be able to attain the understanding necessary. Instead it seems man prefers the tattered broken pieces that belong to countless fables and myths, destroying chances of unity, and creating division where there is no understanding to gain.
Even if one does not want to acknowledge the uncanny ties between the three main religions of the world, one cannot deny the record breaking amount of anomalies occurring globally. Those include, but are not limited to; natural disasters, diseases, mass animal deaths, extreme climate change, pole shifts, earthquakes, volcanic activity, and the increased number of objects in space coming towards Earth. If one is able to deny these end time signs, then congratulations on being distracted by media and self-soothing securities. Enjoy staying in a delusional state of cognitive dissonance and continue being a part of the problem of division and not assisting towards the solution of unity. This is no joking matter because at this rate, the world is exponentially spiraling into severe adversity! Ask yourself, do you really want to keep going down the road of calamity and division? Keep in mind, we are all human and we are all in this together. At this time, many may be disgruntled over the words dancing all over this page, but if you are feeling something, whether perceived as good or bad, comfortable or uncomfortable, there is room for discovery and growth. The wounds created over time where bandages have failed to aid in healing, sutures are available here to begin that restoration process. The road to healing begins with yourself when you are open to change and finding the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.
All of these unnerving illustrations were to point out some of the reasons why harmony and peace are currently unachievable. However, there is great news in all of this disarray and division: Christ has returned! If you were not aware, His name is Lord Ra-El. He has returned as prophesied from all three Abrahamic faiths. [Please see more details here: lordrayel.org]. He has come to judge the world, to bring truth to what man has failed to understand in religion, science, and other man made interpretations, and He is here to establish His Father’s Kingdom. Don’t let the world, religion, and other man made ideologies keep you from the light and the truth. Of course religion and science have helped aid our world and continue the message of hope, but many have fallen asleep into a comfortable state of fables and stagnant growth by just believing the hearsay since it is deemed worthy by the popular consensus. Remember the type of world we live in and its current motives, before jumping with the general consensus. Many are also saying that a “one world” religion/government is a scary thing. Well of course it is, when it is in wicked and untrustworthy hands. Think of it this way; will the New Kingdom/Heaven not be all in unity? All will be together in agreement under the same divine entity, all believing in the one and only truth. In other words, all who believe in Heaven also believe in a “one world” ideology.
By lacking understanding, a person is unable to take that step back, be in someone else’s shoes, and gain the necessary perspective and knowledge. There is a waste of potential knowledge available by immediately attacking without contemplating or researching the evidence and ideas. Controversial topics lead to that uncomfortable fear deep down which paralyzes one to not want to take the effort to divulge into it. Take the time to step out of that comfort zone and analyze the fear that holds you back. Research for yourself, ask God for His knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and discernment. Ask for the truth, it will surely come if you are able to differentiate. Open your heart and mind, and do not block all information that seems uncomfortable right away. Don’t be lazy, put the work in by challenging yourself, and continue forward by not taking the easy way out. Laziness will not help achieve unity or assist in mitigating division. Step out of the deception of darkness, keep growing in the light of veracity, and love God and each other.
References:
[1] http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html
[2] https://afeatheradrift.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/cognitive-dissonance-clean.jpg
[3] https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/3b/eb/11/3beb11dd4cf65435d3f0a09592c93269.jpg
[4] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/05/fastest-growing-major-religion/
[5] http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4f8c43deecad047301000001-1200-2202/chart.gif
[6] http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zdOHiFunk08/UB_ArrnzpYI/AAAAAAAAHPY/N6K3uDUP6rs/s1600/283623_352282651512893_1762461674_n.jpg