Ah I see, so we were supposed to eventually inhabit the rest of the universe, but we fucked up? Or hey, maybe we didn't fuck up and we're on the way? We're closer than ever to be able to colonize Mars. We finally sent a spacecraft outside the edge of the solar system. Technology is improving all the time, and how else would we spread across space? Maybe this is just growing pains, what we're experiencing right now. One thing's for sure, viewing myself as a filthy sinner doesn't do me any good. When I've done bad things in my life, I've known they were bad, and over time I have changed because I understand what I need to do to be a good person. Instead of the fear of eternal damnation, or pissing off an angry god, I do good things because it's obviously the right thing to do. It feels healthier that way to me.
When I read this ^^ it reads as good news to me.
We haven't killed ourselves yet and there is hope for us getting off the planet and expanding humanity across the universe. Personally I would have hoped we moved faster but WE aren't in any kind of agreement that we want to survive and expand humanity yet. A lot of us are still waiting for some kind of outside force to jump up and guide us. Maybe the good news Jesus was bringing was exactly that, we are still on course, despite it not being a really good one, and we can change our course because humanity has free will.
The single understandable thing I do take from God is love. Unconditional, unrelenting, undeniable love. Perfect love. When I don't cloud God's love with my own judgment or confuse your judgment as being God's it helps me see my path a lot clearer. To think like God I need to always be in a state of love toward the person I'm interacting with, not really easy at first but it smooths out overtime and just about the time I'm dead I'll have it down pat.
It's understandable none of us will ever hit perfection during our short lifetimes here. We barely have time to find our place on this planet under such a competative world view, we should spend it focused on improving ourselves and outwardly improving our surroundings, so those that come behind us will be able to stand on our shoulders and see further then we ever dared too.
The story and teachings of Jesus I have used to be the guide to my life, I don't pause at all to denounce the Jewish worship of their hate filled diety as not at all what Jesus meant when he said father. Perhaps the tiny ruling class of Jewish scribes that were the only ones who could read and write decided to write somebullshit and said it came from God? When you realize you absolutely cannot be without doubt it gets a lot easier to see the bullshit. Now you have to learn how to tell truth from fiction and your only guide can be the holy spirit because everything else is suspect.
Try not to think about that when you go to sleep at night because it will keep you up.
All the help you need coming from a Christian perspective is clearly in the new testament. The challenge of Christianity is letting go of the law and actually following the spirit. The in-ability to do this and stay bound to the law out of fear of failure is the current place the 'church' finds itself. Stuck upholding laws and missing the guidance of the spirit makes churches die exactly as scripture says the law will bring death.
Church should be the funnest place on earth, where man pauses for a moment in his global striving to celebrate with a loving diety. Rules are never fun, go figure.