Luk 17:21 ”…the kingdom of God is within you.”
The Bible teaches that God and heaven are not “out there.” Luke says “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation”; in other words, it is not a place--nothing that can be seen with the eye. He goes on to tell us where that kingdom exists: “within you.” Quite often, Christians pay more attention to what they’ve been taught by others than what the Bible actually says. Perhaps it is time to start reconsidering some of those misconceptions, because they can lead to a world of trouble (mostly judgmentalism toward others, it seems).
It might also be well to note that the Bible teaches that God not only is NOT a man, but rather is… Light! - a photon. Some people have a hard time with that because of their indoctrination and life-long perception of who or what God is. Nevertheless, that is what the Bible says:
1Jn 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
Num 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
So we see that our cherished perceptions crumble, not only in the face of science (which can give us many excellent insights if only we would pay attention), but also from the very words of the scriptures themselves. Quantum physics has made huge progress in better understanding the nature of the universe and what we call “reality.” Just for fun, go on YouTube and look for “The Double Slit Experiment.” Depending on where you are on your journey, this may begin to change your perception of reality. (As a little side note, everything in the universe is in a state of vibration; nothing is “solid” as we perceive it. We just perceive it to be so at the macro level at which we exist. Also, the universe is full of possibilities only, which means while something may be probable, because we have freedom of choice, nothing is set in concrete, and therefore no one can predict the future with 100% certainty. Our choices collapse the waves of possibility to make them reality.)
It should be understood that whether or not a person “attends church” has nothing to do with his or her spirituality. In fact, most who sit under the teaching of another without doing their own research and study are going to be very limited in their understanding. This is because they have been mind controlled to the point where they simply refuse to question anything, or perhaps they are just too lazy to do so. As soon as a question pops up in their mind, it is suppressed. It takes a very courageous person to be able to step out of the box that holds him prisoner.
Do you see that horse tied to the chair in the image below? It is mind controlled! It thinks (because it was taught from a young age) that it cannot get away from that chair. Yet it could easily walk away. It is the same way elephants are trained with a chain around their foot. When they are little, the chain is very heavy. But when they grow up to full maturity, they could easily walk away. It is what is happening in their mind that keeps them captive. People are like that too. We are bound by mind shackles that cannot be seen. Once we break free from them, then we are truly free to be who we were created to be.
When I originally started to see the truth of some of these things, it was church people who drove me even further away from their way of thinking with their insane judgmentalism. I was called every name in the book, and one of the first experiences I had to endure was being told that my perspectives were “of Satan.” A more recent accusation made by a “loving” Christian was that I was a “God-hating, Bible-hating, Jesus-hating, liar.” None of these things bear any resemblance to the truth. But it was apparent to me that that person was obviously not a lover of the truth at all; nor did she have any problem slandering others, so love had not yet become her basis for existence. Not all religious people are like that, but many are, and some pastors and rabbis are among of the worst, sad to say. One particular pastor went out of his way to embarrass me in front of his entire congregation, and for no reason other than control. I left in tears that Sunday morning and never went back to his congregation again.
