Hypocrisy?

Use this forum to discuss the March 2019 Book of the month, "The Unbound Soul: A Visionary Guide to Spiritual Transformation and Enlightenment" by Richard L. Haight
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Mailis
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Re: Hypocrisy?

Post by Mailis »

I always feel that the strict structure and commandments in any religion are created by people wanting to control other people. Judging others or condemning them to "hell" is very human thing to do and mostly comes from a place of inner fear and ego.
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Post by Jsovermyer »

He seems to be making his own religion and wants everyone to believe the way he does. That does sound hypocritical to me.
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Post by Renu G »

I would not label it as hypocrisy, but I do find a contradiction between the author's claim that Jesus asked him to find his bones ( the core of his teaching) and his belief in reincarnation.

Rebirth goes against the essence of Christianity which is founded on Jesus' death and resurrection. Hence, the author is actually distorting Jesus' teaching on this point. Otherwise, I liked his spirituality.
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Post by sylviab98 »

LV2R wrote: 08 Mar 2019, 22:50
abbiejoice wrote: 07 Mar 2019, 23:49 I must admit that there seems to be an inconsistency in the author's perspective. He seems to advocate unconditional love (something he doesn't see in traditional Christianity because of its objective definitions of good and evil) but even in his own belief (which he considers not to be a belief at all), there are still many criteria needed for those who want to achieve peace, or happiness or whatever good he deems worth reaching for. Also, his basis for rejecting traditional Christianity is not very clear. There was no mention of a logical and thorough research to understand the Christian faith. The only thing I could remember that he mentioned was his conversation with his own father when he was still a child. This was about how a good God can send someone to hell. It was not explained however, how God respects the freewill of people and how it is the person himself who has the ability to reject God and thus go to hell if he does not desire to go to heaven.
I personally wish that the author had spent even half the time searching the Scriptures in the Bible to understand more fully the core of Jesus' teachings than all the years spent in traveling and learning the unfoldment process. I believe the true Christian perspective of God is that He has unconditional love for us and sent his Son, Jesus Christ to be our Savior and not to condemn us to hell.
I love your answer. I also think that the Author didn't give the reader a thorough answer as to what the real Christianity is.And that is because in the end, after doing all his research and after traveling and learning he didn't understand the way that God loved us and still loves us. He sent his son, Jesus, to save us from sin and to not perish.
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Post by Renu G »

Well, the author does mention about God's unconditional love at the end of the book. I wonder why you think otherwise.
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Post by P Reefer »

Certainly so, the author seems more intent on burying the bones of Jesus if ever he would find them as oppose to bringing persons to the core tenets of Christain practices and beliefs.
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Post by Kibet Hillary »

LV2R wrote: 08 Mar 2019, 22:50
abbiejoice wrote: 07 Mar 2019, 23:49 I must admit that there seems to be an inconsistency in the author's perspective. He seems to advocate unconditional love (something he doesn't see in traditional Christianity because of its objective definitions of good and evil) but even in his own belief (which he considers not to be a belief at all), there are still many criteria needed for those who want to achieve peace, or happiness or whatever good he deems worth reaching for. Also, his basis for rejecting traditional Christianity is not very clear. There was no mention of a logical and thorough research to understand the Christian faith. The only thing I could remember that he mentioned was his conversation with his own father when he was still a child. This was about how a good God can send someone to hell. It was not explained however, how God respects the freewill of people and how it is the person himself who has the ability to reject God and thus go to hell if he does not desire to go to heaven.
I personally wish that the author had spent even half the time searching the Scriptures in the Bible to understand more fully the core of Jesus' teachings than all the years spent in traveling and learning the unfoldment process. I believe the true Christian perspective of God is that He has unconditional love for us and sent his Son, Jesus Christ to be our Savior and not to condemn us to hell.
This is very true. It was an instance of believing what he was told without also trying to find out the whole truth just as he embarked on a mission to find the essence of the teachings of Jesus.
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Post by brainwill_writes »

The author's ideology about the Christian religion is flawed with a series of inconsistencies as to what the religion stands for.
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Post by Joe Hadithi »

That's the thing with religions. The one you believe in is the only true one. All the others are hot air.
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Post by IamShing »

Perhaps, because the author doesn't have enough faith within himself. I don't know exactly why he narrated it that way.

Simply, believing in God you know you won't dare to speak violently of him. Yet, the author's perspective about the specific religion might be different.
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Post by Enigma44 »

soccerts wrote: 06 Mar 2019, 20:34 I’m not trying to vilify the author, but I'm curious to hear your opinions on this. Did you find his religious/spiritual approach to be colored by hypocrisy?

Early on, the author is put-off of Christianity because a woman told him that everyone who didn’t convert to her religion would go to hell. After talking it over with his father, he decided that was unfair and he would have no respect for such a god.

Later in the book, he explains his own spiritual revelation and says that if everyone doesn’t change their way of thinking to what he suggests then, “the suffering will be an immeasurable Hell on Earth.”

How is that any different or more fair/loving than the Christian woman’s beliefs? He goes even further to say that there will be near-extinction levels of destruction, and even if people do change and do exactly as he says, there will be incomprehensible suffering, because it’s already too late.

In between these two examples, he also judges an entire stadium of strangers, saying that there was something wrong in their hearts. Thousands of people he’s never even spoken to. He says he is motivated by love, but so do a lot of religions who come to similar conclusions.

It seems like he has a blatant double-standard for other beliefs vs his own spiritual assertions.
What do you guys think?
Interesting that is how you interpret Haight’s “path of awakening” as he calls it. To me, he borrowed a lot from various religions and beliefs, and repackaged them his way. I did not feel condemned in any way, even though I don’t plan to get on his path. Pointing out that there is something wrong with all of our hearts is a hard truth to swallow but still true. I think his biggest gripe with other religions is worshipping figures/gods. Do you see that too?
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Post by IamShing »

yea..true
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Post by flaming_quills »

I think it's definitely hypocritical of the narrator to say he can't believe in a God that sends those who don't convert to hell then turn around and say those who don't convert to his ways will suffer for it. A gentler approach would have sufficed in my opinion but let's face it, he's human and sometimes these things slip out and unfortunately, we can't take them back.
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Post by Diana Lowery »

I was also confused until the author stated that his teaching was not a belief system. "It comes from direct experience and is to help others set aside biases, assumptions, and beliefs so they can experience life more directly for themselves." Hence, the journey and the outcome would be different for everyone. He is just explaining how he got there, and along the way he changed his mind about things which would appear hypocritical.
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Post by IamShing »

Thanks for the head uo
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