I love a paradox, but I puzzle a lot over the Christian idea that Jesus, purportedly the loving son of a loving God, must be defended with spite and malice and guns and hate...anything, in fact, but love. Same goes for the main person in many other religions, but I know Christianity best (which is to say, just barely).
But I do have my spiritual values, most if not all of them straight from the Sermon on the Mound. I've always found the message of the Sermon in the other spiritual material I read, and little of it is Christian literature, per se. The most important fact being that the message is consistently all about giving over to others.
That being the case, to me, that's the difference between psychology and spirituality. Psychology teaches us how to take care of ourselves...spirituality helps us know and show that God has our back, we don't have to fight about it.
I hasten to add that isn't to say I've never been to a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a pastoral counselor...I've been to a couple, and I've benefited some. None has ever told me to just get over myself, when in fact that was basically what I needed to do. After getting a new and different perspective, I did just that...through forgiveness, through understanding myself and the other, etc., all of which comprise the message in the Sermon, but I have sought professional help at times to see it, so I have no regrets.
But the rest of the story is I've also never had a counselor...never heard of a counselor...who recommended taking a gun and shooting the person I disagreed with. That's war for you, especially religious wars...and what war isn't a religious war? Whatever the fight is about, each side has made their goal their god, and they're willing to kill and be killed for it.
I'd rather try love first...and last. All I have to do is get over myself.
Thank You.
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