Difference between revisions of "Quotes About Religion"

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"Your religion now cannot be a religion of one world alone or for one people alone. It will have to be a [[the Greater Community|Greater Community]] religion - God of the Universe, a spirituality of the Universe."
 
"Your religion now cannot be a religion of one world alone or for one people alone. It will have to be a [[the Greater Community|Greater Community]] religion - God of the Universe, a spirituality of the Universe."
−
<ref name="tng">The New God (February 12, 2009)</ref>
+
<ref name="tng">''The One God'', Chapter 2: [http://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/one-god/new-god-revelation The New God Revelation]</ref>
  
−
“Do not think that religion in this world is a big mistake. It is actually the only thing that humanity has to offer the Greater Community at this point.”
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“Do not think that religion in this world is a big mistake. It is actually the only thing that humanity has to offer [[the Greater Community]] at this point.”
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<ref>The Great Love, November 23, 2007</ref>
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<ref>[https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/other-revelations/the-great-love The Great Love] (November 23, 2007)</ref>
  
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"All religions were initiated by God and then corrupted by people."<ref>March 18, 2007</ref>
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"All the religions have been initiated by God and changed by man."<ref>''The Pure Religion'': [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/pure-religion/religious-fundamentalism Religious Fundamentalism]</ref>
  
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== The lifeblood of religion ==
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"Knowledge is what created all the world’s religions, and Knowledge is what unites them still, despite all of the separation and conflict that exist between them. For these are a human invention and not a Divine invention." <ref>''The One God'', Chapter 1: [http://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/one-god/comprehending-god Comprehending God]</ref>
 +
 +
==Directives==
  
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"Keeping religion alive in the world, despite its errors, took tremendous giving. You see, religion dies the minute after it is born. It is something that spoils very quickly and must be reborn every minute. If it is allowed to die, it becomes merely another thought system, a constraint now and not an apparatus for freedom. It must be renewed. What renews religion in the world is Knowledge, this quality of giving where individuals render their lives naturally. They infuse so much life into the idea of God that God comes alive. Without this infusion, God is dead. When people say, 'God is dead,' they say that because God has become merely an idea. The life of God is dissipated. Then someone comes along and gives his or her life and that is God. And you say, 'Oh, my. That is God!'"
+
[[File:Religious_symbols.png|right]]
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<ref>''[[Wisdom from the Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 17</ref>
 
  
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“The Way of Knowledge, which is at the heart of all the world’s religions, must become its essential teaching, instead of a focus for clerics and monastics and exceptional individuals only. This is the challenge before you, or religion will be part of the problem for humanity and not its essential means of reconciliation, inspiration and a high ethical awareness. Let this be your understanding.”
+
"This message is destined to reach people who have a greater spiritual affinity. Therefore, it is necessary that we elaborate on this subject. We advocate a spirituality that is taught in the Greater Community, not the spirituality that is governed by nations, governments or political alliances, but a natural spirituality - the ability to know, to see and to act."<ref>''The Allies of Humanity Book One'', First Briefing: [https://www.alliesofhumanity.org/the-briefings/book-one/alien-races-earth/ The Extraterrestrial Presence in the World Today]</ref>
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<ref name="rel">Religion, July 20, 2009</ref>
 
  
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“God does not need your belief. God does not need your worship. God does not need to be celebrated. God needs to be followed. You follow God most profoundly, most purely, not by believing in the edicts of religion necessarily, but by building your connection to Knowledge. If religion is functioning correctly, it is helping you to build a bridge to Knowledge, to your own conscience and to live responsibly, ethically and beneficially, both for yourself and for others.”
+
==Many Pathways of Redemption ==
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<ref>Preparing for the Future, September 5, 2007</ref>
 
  
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“Whether you are religious or not, whether you believe in a religious teaching and adhere to that teaching, or whether you claim to have no religious affiliation, your progress is entirely dependent upon your connection to Knowledge.”
+
"The
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<ref>God, Knowledge and the Angelic Presence, September 17, 2008</ref>
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New Message has been sent to
 +
teach that all the religions were
 +
initiated by God, that all religions
 +
were changed by people, that God
 +
has created many pathways of
 +
redemption to meet the different
 +
needs and temperaments of people
 +
living at different times and in different cultures and that
 +
humanity should never assume God’s will or proclaim that
 +
their religion alone is the only religion. For God has created
 +
many pathways of redemption." <ref>''The Great Waves of Change'', Chapter 13: [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-4/great-waves-change/a-new-message-of-hope A New Message of Hope]</ref>
  
−
“The deeper recognition happens beyond the realm of the intellect. You may create ideas and evaluations of these experiences to your benefit, perhaps, but the experience itself is happening at a deeper level. It is getting to this deeper level that represents the focus of religion and spiritual practice in all of its forms.”
+
“Thinking that your religion is the one true religion will stand in the way of your redemption. Condemning other nations, peoples and religions will prevent you from receiving this redemption. Being self-righteous and the defender of your faith will blind you, and you will turn your back to God.”<ref name="tng"/>
−
<ref name="katlob">Knowledge and the Limits of Belief, November 3, 2008</ref>
 
  
−
"God has planted Knowledge within every person as the seed and source of their redemption. Redemption will not occur because you believe in a great saint or a great Messenger. Redemption will not even occur if you believe in God or practice a religion faithfully, for you are still lost in the mind, the worldly mind. Your attempt at religion is an escape from the world, a desperate attempt to have purpose and meaning in your life that transcends the hard realities that you see all around you."
+
"You must learn to climb up the other side, using the ladders that God has dropped down. And God has dropped down more than one ladder because God knows that not everyone will follow one ladder alone. God knows that not everyone will follow one Teaching or Teacher alone. And God knows that every great Revelation brought to the world will be corrupted by people over time, and so there must be further Revelations to bring clarification and correction to all the errors that humanity has made with the previous Revelations." <ref>''The One God'', Chapter 12: [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/one-god/the-heart-of-god The Heart of God]</ref>
−
<ref>Ending Separation (March 3, 2011)</ref>
 
  
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==The true purpose of religion==
+
==Reformation of Religion==
 +
"The New Message from God transcends ideology. This transcends the controversies regarding these things because this is a new message from God for the redemption and preparation of the whole world for a reality and a future that will be very different from the past. Only God can provide such a thing, for even at this moment religions are divided even within themselves. They are contentions, unable to address adequately the great, rising global problems that will overtake humanity in the future if it is unprepared. Arguing over who has the best religion or the most astounding founder can only harm humanity now. It is divisive and exclusive to do this. It adds to the dilemma and the fracturing of the human family. God knows better and the one chosen to bring the Revelation is the perfect one."
 +
<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTRXFCGrAUU&feature=share&t=41m6s The Mission of the Messenger (beginning at 46:00)]</ref>
  
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“For all the great religious traditions were fundamentally initiated by God to reunite the mind with the Spirit and to bring the mind under the direction of the Spirit. Here the mind is like the steward of the soul until the king can return or the queen can return, the true ruler of life can return.”
+
"Religion is not going to the church or the mosque or the temple or the holy site and going through the motions of what religious authorities have established as practice and custom. It is not forcing yourself to believe things that you hardly understand. That is not religion. Religion is the great engagement within you, between your thinking mind and the deeper mind of Knowledge within yourself."<ref>[http://www.newmessage.org/new-message-impoverished-oppressed The New Message for the Impoverished and Oppressed] (April 18, 2008]</ref>
−
<ref name="katlob"/>
 
  
 +
“Here you must realize that God has initiated all the world’s religions, and they have all been changed by people, even radically changed. To correct the errors of the past, to renew the true faith and to bring forth the great truth of the ancient religions in their pure form, God has sent a New Revelation into the world, not to replace the religions of the world, but to clarify them and to give them new strength and power and a greater unity with one another."<ref name="tng"/>
  
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“The purpose of all religious institutions fundamentally is to provide an environment where you can cultivate your desire and your capacity to experience God.”
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[[File:greater-than-religion.jpg|left]]
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<ref>''[[Relationships & Higher Purpose]]'', Chapter 1</ref>
 
  
 +
== The lifeblood of religion ==
  
−
“God does not discriminate. God is not delighted with the religious and angry with the unreligious. God has placed the saving Grace within each person. The real purpose of religion is to bring people to this saving Grace. Religion in all of its forms is intended to do this. Even though religion has taken on other manifestations and assumed other purposes and in many cases has been adopted by political forces, this is its fundamental purpose—to bring you to Knowledge, to bring you to this deeper guiding intelligence that the Creator of all life has placed within you and within each person as a potential.”
+
"Keeping religion alive in the world, despite its errors, took tremendous giving. You see, religion dies the minute after it is born. It is something that spoils very quickly and must be reborn every minute. If it is allowed to die, it becomes merely another thought system, a constraint now and not an apparatus for freedom. It must be renewed. What renews religion in the world is [[Knowledge]], this quality of giving where individuals render their lives naturally. They infuse so much life into the idea of [[God]] that God comes alive. Without this infusion, God is dead. When people say, 'God is dead,' they say that because God has become merely an idea. The life of God is dissipated. Then someone comes along and gives his or her life and that is God. And you say, 'Oh, my. That is God!'"
−
<ref>What Will Save Humanity (March 30, 2008)</ref>
+
<ref>''Wisdom from the Greater Community Volume I'', Chapter 16: [http://www.newmessage.org/wisdom-from-the-greater-community-volume-1-chapter-16-giving-ii Giving II]</ref>
  
 +
“The Way of [[Knowledge]], which is at the heart of all the world’s religions, must become its essential teaching, instead of a focus for clerics and monastics and exceptional individuals only. This is the challenge before you, or religion will be part of the problem for humanity and not its essential means of reconciliation, inspiration and a high ethical awareness. Let this be your understanding.”
 +
<ref name="rel">[https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/other-revelations/the-new-message-on-religion The New Message on Religion] (July 20, 2009)</ref>
  
−
"Fundamentally the purpose of all spiritual development and religious education in its truest sense is to build a connection between your thinking mind, which is a product of all the world’s influences, and the deeper mind within you that God has created within you."
+
“God does not need your belief. God does not need your worship. God does not need to be celebrated. God needs to be followed. You follow God most profoundly, most purely, not by believing in the edicts of religion necessarily, but by building your connection to [[Knowledge]]. If religion is functioning correctly, it is helping you to build a bridge to [[Knowledge]], to your own conscience and to live responsibly, ethically and beneficially, both for yourself and for others.”
−
<ref name="taow"/>
+
<ref>Preparing for the Future (September 5, 2007)</ref>
  
 +
“Whether you are religious or not, whether you believe in a religious teaching and adhere to that teaching, or whether you claim to have no religious affiliation, your progress is entirely dependent upon your connection to [[Knowledge]].”
 +
<ref>''The One God'', Chapter 9: [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/one-god/god-knowledge-and-the-angelic-presence God, Knowledge and the Angelic Presence]</ref>
  
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"Religion is what has been created to give spirituality an opportunity to be expressed and to be shared, to create an environment where spirituality can be experienced and applied. It is like a house within which spirituality can live: a structure, a pathway, a context, an orientation. That is the purpose of religion."
+
“The deeper recognition happens beyond the realm of the intellect. You may create ideas and evaluations of these experiences to your benefit, perhaps, but the experience itself is happening at a deeper level. It is getting to this deeper level that represents the focus of religion and spiritual practice in all of its forms.”
−
<ref name="nmrlw">The New Message for the Religious Leaders of the World (May 27, 2006)</ref>
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<ref name="katlob">''The Power of Knowledge'', Chapter 9: [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/power-of-knowledge/ideas-beliefs-god Knowledge and the Limits of Belief]</ref>
  
 +
"God has planted [[Knowledge]] within every person as the seed and source of their redemption. Redemption will not occur because you believe in a great saint or a great Messenger. Redemption will not even occur if you believe in God or practice a religion faithfully, for you are still lost in the mind, the worldly mind. Your attempt at religion is an escape from the world, a desperate attempt to have purpose and [[meaning]] in your life that transcends the hard realities that you see all around you."
 +
<ref>Ending Separation (March 3, 2011)</ref>
  
−
"The purpose of all religion is to bring you to Knowledge for Knowledge is here to guide you and to protect you and to lead you to a greater life in service to the world. You of any faith or tradition, this is the case. You may pray to God. You may fall down on your knees and prostrate yourself in the temple or the mosque or the church. But until you begin to carry out God’s work that is meant for you to carry out you will not understand the real nature of your spiritual reality."
+
"There is a great difference between the manifestation of religion—and all of its great edifices and
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<ref>The Origin (November 18, 2009)</ref>
+
pronouncements, its admonitions, its ideology, its cosmology, its theology—and the Mystery that lives within each
 +
person, waiting to be discovered." <ref name="gacwh">''The Pure Religion'': [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/pure-religion/gods-ancient-covenant-with-humanity God's Ancient Covenant with Humanity]</ref>
  
 +
==Quotes About the True Purpose of Religion==
  
−
“Religion is not going to the church or the mosque or the temple or the holy site and going through the motions of what religious authorities have established as practice and custom. It is not forcing yourself to believe things that you hardly understand. That is not religion. Religion is the great engagement within you, between your thinking mind and the deeper mind of Knowledge within yourself. This engagement begins very slowly and can occur under any circumstances. You can go sit in a church or a mosque. You can go sit in your closet if necessary to gain the opportunity to be quiet and to listen.”
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*''see [[The purpose of religion|here]]''
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<ref>The New Message for the Impoverished & Oppressed, April 18, 2008</ref>
 
  
 +
==Quotes About the Abuse of Religion==
  
−
“There is no creation story. There is no final culmination to all experience that you can conceive of. So what then is religion without a creation story, without a final culminating experience and without a judgment day? Clearly, if religion is to be of service to its peoples, it must have a deeper foundation. It cannot be a story or a threat.”
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*''see [[Abuse of Religion|here]]
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<ref>''[[Life in the Universe]]'', Chapter 13</ref>
 
  
 +
==The end of provincial religion==
  
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“Simply said, the purpose of religion is to cultivate the desire and the capacity to experience the Divine Presence in one’s life. All teachings and rituals, whether within large institutions or within the privacy of one’s home, are for this purpose. And the desire and capacity to experience the Divine Presence is to bring one to the power of Knowledge that the Creator of all life has placed within each human heart.”
+
"You cannot claim your religion is the only religion or the great religion or the last religion or the final religion, for this is to claim that you know God’s Plan and Purpose now and into the future, and no one on Earth, no one in the physical universe, can make such a claim."
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<ref name="rel">Religion (July 20, 2009)</ref>
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<ref>[https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/other-revelations/burden-of-the-messenger The Burden of the Messenger] (April 5, 2011)</ref>
  
 +
"The theologies and philosophies upon which each religion is built must be adaptable and responsive to a growing panorama of life and to a changing set of circumstances that represent the evolution of a race."<ref>''Greater Community Spirituality'', Chapter 27: [http://www.newmessage.org/greater-community-spirituality-chapter-27-what-is-the-evolution-of-religion-in-the-world What is the evolution of religion in the world?]</ref>
  
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“In essence, all religion is to teach The Way of Knowledge, to bring the individual into the direct experience of Knowledge, the deeper mind beyond the intellect, the mind that God has provided each person to guide them, to protect them and to lead them to a greater life and expression in the world.”
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[[File:minarets.jpg|left|Minarets]]
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<ref name="rel"/>
 
  
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==Lifespans of Religions==
  
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“In these words, we speak to the human heart, not to the intellect that wants to have everything figured out and wants to adhere to its notions, its beliefs and its traditions. There is nothing wrong with a tradition if it fulfills the basic purpose of religion, which is to inspire and expand people’s desire and capacity to experience the presence of God and to connect them with the deeper intelligence that God has placed within them that will be essential for their success and their well-being in the world. This is much more important than the teachings of the founder of a religious tradition. It is much more important than the religion’s official declarations of belief or doctrinaire.”
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"Old religions will have to expand and adapt or they will die out." <ref>''Greater Community Spirituality'', Chapter 18: [http://www.newmessage.org/greater-community-spirituality-chapter-18-what-is-human-destiny What is human destiny?]</ref>
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<ref name="rel"/>
 
  
 +
"Religions have life spans. This is true throughout the Greater Community. Religions have life
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spans because they serve eras of development. Then they are either replaced or they change and expand
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in order to adapt. If they cannot adapt, they will be replaced because the reality of life will make their
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teaching and their emphasis less and less relevant and meaningful.
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In the Greater Community, religions are initiated, they reach a maturity and then they enter old
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age where they die off. Out of their old age a new impetus, a new meaning and a new message can be
 +
given to restore and to renew the race’s spiritual vitality and to give this vitality an immediate
 +
relevancy to life as it is expanding and developing."<ref>''Greater Community Spirituality'', Chapter 26: [http://www.newmessage.org/greater-community-spirituality-chapter-26-who-is-jesus Who is Jesus?]</ref>
  
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“You who seek to know your greater purpose in the world and the greater meaning of your life are a religious person. Whether you belong to a church or a mosque or a synagogue or any other religious organization, that is secondary. Promoting a religious ideology in the world does not represent supporting God’s will and purpose here. It is only if this ideology and system of belief can meet the basic requirements of religion that they have real and lasting value and produce real benefit for people.”
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==Religious leadership and education==
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<ref name="rel"/>
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"What essentially is the role of religious leaders in nearly all situations is to be providers and maintainers." <ref name="taow">[https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/other-revelations/the-age-of-women The Age of Women] (November 14, 2007)</ref>
  
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"Even amongst the religious, there are few who know the power and presence
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that God has placed within them, and that is why the saints and the mystics throughout time have
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been persecuted by the clerics—those who are people of the word and the law, but not people of
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the Spirit and the Mystery." <ref>[http://www.newmessage.org/gods-plan God's Plan to Save Everyone] (October 14, 2014)</ref>
  
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“Religion is bringing you to God and to what God has placed within you to guide you, to protect you and to lead you to your great accomplishments in life. Anything beyond this is an invention, a human invention, an adaptation. People will have to figure out what this means in terms of the application of law and the running of society. God is not here to run society or to carry out the intricacies of jurisprudence or the administration of the law. God is pointing you to the Mystery, not to the manifestation. God is calling you to the Mystery, not prescribing the manifestation.”
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==Quotes About Religion and the Intervention==
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<ref name="rel"/>
 
  
−
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"This Group Mind process of course is being used throughout the world in leadership circles in government and religion and commerce, but rarely is Knowledge their guide, and rarely do they employ [[seers]]. Humanity just has not reached this level of sophistication yet. So regarding your position in the Greater Community, humanity is at a disadvantage here.
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==The abuse of religion==
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Its strength, your strength, is that religion has been kept alive in the world. The recognition of God’s power and presence is honored and recognized by many, whereas in most nations in this region of space, religion has either become worship of the state or has disappeared altogether.
 +
Here you have an advantage because even the ancient pathways of religion offer the experience of Knowledge. Perhaps this is not emphasized. Perhaps this is not specified in the Teachings, but the individual is encouraged to have a relationship with the Divine and to be responsive to the Divine in most situations." <ref>Group Mind (March 18, 2011)</ref>
  
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"It is as if the unreligious have taken over the business of religion for their own purposes. Never having realized its essential purpose and meaning, they have turned it into something else. It is like now a political party, and of course religion has political aims as well.
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"Having no religion of their own, [the Intervention] will use yours to engender their own values."<ref>''The Allies of Humanity Book One'', Fourth Briefing: [https://www.alliesofhumanity.org/the-briefings/book-one/false-second-coming/ Manipulation of Religious Traditions and Beliefs]</ref>
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This is so far apart from God’s initial impulse and intention for religion—to keep Knowledge alive in the world, to teach The Way of Knowledge, to encourage human responsibility and ethical behavior, not simply as a prescript or as a requirement for admission into Heaven or some other exalted future state."
 
−
<ref>The New Message on Religion (July 20, 2009)</ref>
 
  
 +
==Religion and the Greater Community==
  
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“Religious tyranny will become very evident in the world in the years to come. This is the result of people holding to an absolute idea in a relative reality. It will breed violence and hatred—everything that is counterproductive.”
 
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<ref>''[[Wisdom from the Greater Community]] Volume One'', Chapter 9</ref>
 
−
 
−
 
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“So you have a world that is religious, but knows not of religion. You have a world where religious institutions and their advocates clash and compete with one another, not realizing that the Source of their faith is the same. They will have people demanding and expecting adherence to ideas and beliefs and admonitions, but who themselves have never received the real initiation into the mystery and the power of the Presence.”
 
−
<ref name="rel"/>
 
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−
 
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“Religion has become concrete. It has become political. It has become an economic and social power that seeks to preserve its status and its power at whatever cost. So those who are truly responding to religion’s true purpose now find themselves in exile, now find themselves heretics and visionaries, following the Mystery—a Mystery that has been lost to so many in the religious orders and institutions. It is as if religion has become the enemy of what religion is really for. It is now the religion of the state, religion of tradition, religion of history, religion of fixed ideas, fixed beliefs and exclusive claims of authority. So far this is from the desire and intent of the Creator to keep Knowledge alive in the world.”
 
−
<ref name="rel"/>
 
−
 
−
 
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"Religion has become a palliative. It has become a distraction more than an illumination. It has become something that people [use to] run away from the world to seek comfort and consolation instead of a preparation to engage in the world in a greater and more profound way."
 
−
<ref>The Will of Heaven (May 17, 2011)</ref>
 
−
 
−
"When people say, 'The last thing the world needs is a new religion!' you may say, 'What the world needs is a New Revelation, a clarification, a pure message unclouded by human interpretation and human error. Humanity needs a greater inspiration and a greater strength, and that is why the New Message is here.'"<ref>Dealing with Resistance and Hostility to the New Message (May 5, 2011)</ref>
 
−
 
−
==The end of provincial religion==
 
 
"How can you have a personal religion, like you have in the world, without God being localized? In the Greater Community, then, God is Knowledge."
 
"How can you have a personal religion, like you have in the world, without God being localized? In the Greater Community, then, God is Knowledge."
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<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', Chapter 15</ref>
+
<ref>''Greater Community Spirituality'', Chapter 15: [http://www.newmessage.org/greater-community-spirituality-chapter-15-serves-humanity Who serves humanity?]</ref>
  
 +
"You see, religion and spirituality are different. Spirituality is the essence and the substance.
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Religion is the method and the means. In the Greater Community, because of the diversity of life, there
 +
is never just one way."<ref>''Greater Community Spirituality'', Chapter 19: [http://www.newmessage.org/greater-community-spirituality-chapter-19-what-is-religion What is Religion?]</ref>
  
−
"You cannot claim your religion is the only religion or the great religion or the last religion or the final religion, for this is to claim that you know God’s Plan and Purpose now and into the future, and no one on Earth, no one in the physical universe, can make such a claim."
+
"God does not care what religion you belong to. God is not attached to the theology of any religion, for in the universe there are countless religions. God will respond to the turning of your life, to the opening of your heart, to the emerging need of the soul, the deepest need you have, which is the need to fulfill your purpose as the means of reconciliation".<ref>''The Power of Knowledge'', Chapter 7: [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/power-of-knowledge/the-reconciliation  The Reconciliation]</ref>
−
<ref>The Burden of the Messenger (April 5, 2011)</ref>
 
  
−
"The theologies and philosophies upon which each religion is built must be adaptable and responsive to a growing panorama of life and to a changing set of circumstances that represent the evolution of a race."
+
"Here a Christian must become a Christian with a Greater Community awareness. A Muslim becomes a Muslim with a Greater Community awareness. A Buddhist and a Jew gain a greater panorama of life to which their religious teachings must become relevant. If religion in the world is to educate and to enlighten, it must have this greater capacity and awareness."<ref>''The Greater Community'', Chapter 4: [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/greater-community/human-unity Entering the Greater Community (May 27, 2011)]</ref>
−
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', Chapter 27</ref>
 
  
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==Religious leadership and education==
+
"The free nations in this part of the universe seek to promote freedom wherever they can. They view your world as showing great promise because spirituality and religion have not been destroyed or forgotten here. They see that the power of Knowledge, the greater spiritual power, is still alive in individuals, despite humanity’s grave mistakes and foolish activities." <ref>''The Allies of Humanity Book Three'': [http://alliesofhumanity.org/who-are-the-allies-of-humanity/ Who are the Allies of Humanity?]</ref>
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"What essentially is the role of religious leaders in nearly all situations is to be providers and maintainers."
 
−
<ref name="taow">[http://newmessage.org/ee/index.php/special-teachings/the-age-of-women The Age of Women] (Nov. 14, 2007)</ref>
 
  
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== World Religions==
+
==References==
  
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"The old religions, if they are held in contempt of one another, have really become obsolete and will become increasingly so in the future. Now you must see Jesus within the Greater Community and Muhammad and the Buddha and all the great saints and emissaries in a larger context, in a greater series of Revelations..."
+
[[File:Greater-community-spirituality.jpg|right|border|frame|[http://www.newmessage.org/nmfg/Greater_Community_Spirituality.html Greater Community Spirituality, the New Message book of theology.]]]
−
<ref name="tng"/>
 
  
 +
<references/>
  
−
"All the religions, though they compete with one another, though they demean one another, and though they may proclaim that they themselves are the one true faith, have in fact and in reality been initiated by God. God has given rise to them all. Like many rivers flowing into the sea, they are meant to nourish all the lands and all the peoples of the world. Only one who is truly mature in their own faith can see this. Otherwise, they feel they must defend their faith against other faiths, setting in motion competition, denial, criticism, hatred and mistrust. Certainly this has happened in all cases. But the truth remains that God created all the religions. And they are all meant to serve in bringing the Divine presence, will and purpose into the minds and the hearts of people everywhere—in different cultures, in different climates, to people with very different social patterns and behaviors in all the eras of history."
+
== See also ==
−
<ref name="nmrlw"/>
 
  
 +
[[Is this a new religion?]]
  
−
"All the religious traditions of the world ... have a contribution to make. They are all important. One is not greater than another. To think like this is not to understand the Will of Heaven, for it is only a united humanity that will be able to contend with the challenges of living in a new world and with the greater challenges of preserving your freedom and sovereignty amidst the presence of greater forces in the universe."
+
[[The world's religions]]
−
<ref>The Will of Heaven (May 17, 2011)</ref>
 
  
 +
[[Separation of Church and State]]
  
−
"There are many people in the world today who know they must prepare for something, who feel called to a greater participation, who have a sense that their life is more important than the mundane activities of the day. Some will not find their way in the religious traditions of the world because they are being prepared and called for something new in the world. They are more connected to the future than the past, and the future is calling them and pulling them forward."
+
[[The purpose of religion]]
−
<ref>The Gift of a New Life (May 14, 2011)</ref>
 
  
−
==Religion and the Intervention==
+
[[Evolution of religion]]
  
−
"This Group Mind process of course is being used throughout the world in leadership circles in government and religion and commerce, but rarely is Knowledge their guide, and rarely do they employ [[seers]]. Humanity just has not reached this level of sophistication yet. So regarding your position in the Greater Community, humanity is at a disadvantage here.
+
==Further Study==
−
Its strength, your strength, is that religion has been kept alive in the world. The recognition of God’s power and presence is honored and recognized by many, whereas in most nations in this region of space, religion has either become worship of the state or has disappeared altogether.
 
−
Here you have an advantage because even the ancient pathways of religion offer the experience of Knowledge. Perhaps this is not emphasized. Perhaps this is not specified in the Teachings, but the individual is encouraged to have a relationship with the Divine and to be responsive to the Divine in most situations."
 
−
<ref>Group Mind (March 18, 2011)</ref>
 
  
 +
*''Greater Community Spirituality'', Chapter 19: [http://www.newmessage.org/greater-community-spirituality-chapter-19-what-is-religion What is Religion?]
  
−
"Having no religion of their own, [the Intervention] will use yours to engender their own values."
+
*''The Pure Religion'', Chapter 1: [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/pure-religion/the-pure-religion The Pure Religion]
−
<ref>''[[The Allies of Humanity]] Book One'', Fourth Briefing</ref>
 
  
−
==Religion and the Greater Community==
+
*''The Pure Religion'', Chapter 9: [https://www.newmessage.org/the-message/volume-1/pure-religion/heaven-and-hell Heaven and Hell]  
−
 
 
−
"Religions have life spans. This is true throughout the Greater Community. Religions have life spans because they serve eras of development. Then they are either replaced or they change and expand in order to adapt. If they cannot adapt, they will be replaced because the reality of life will make their teaching and their emphasis less and less relevant and meaningful.
 
−
In the Greater Community religions are initiated, they reach a maturity and then they enter old age where they die off. Out of their old age a new impetus, a new meaning and a new message can be given to restore and to renew the race's spiritual vitality and to give this vitality an immediate relevancy to life as it is expanding and developing."
 
−
<ref>''[[Greater Community Spirituality]]'', Chapter 26</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
"This message is destined to reach people who have a greater spiritual affinity. Therefore, it is necessary that we elaborate on this subject. We advocate a spirituality that is taught in the Greater Community, not the spirituality that is governed by nations, governments or political alliances, but a natural spirituality - the ability to know, to see and to act."
 
−
<ref>''[[The Allies of Humanity]]'', Book One, First Briefing</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
“Thinking that your religion is the one true religion will stand in the way of your redemption. Condemning other nations, peoples and religions will prevent you from receiving this redemption. Being self-righteous and the defender of your faith will blind you, and you will turn your back to God.”
 
−
<ref name="tng">The New God, February 12, 2009</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
"God does not care what religion you belong to. God is not attached to the theology of any religion, for in the universe there are countless religions. God will respond to the turning of your life, to the opening of your heart, to the emerging need of the soul, the deepest need you have, which is the need to fulfill your purpose as the means of reconciliation".
 
−
<ref>The Reconciliation, May 2, 2011</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
“Here you must realize that God has initiated all the world’s religions, and they have all been changed by people, even radically changed. To correct the errors of the past, to renew the true faith and to bring forth the great truth of the ancient religions in their pure form, God has sent a New Revelation into the world, not to replace the religions of the world, but to clarify them and to give them new strength and power and a greater unity with one another.
 
−
<ref name="tng"/>
 
−
 
 
−
"Here a Christian must become a Christian with a Greater Community awareness. A Muslim becomes a Muslim with a Greater Community awareness. A Buddhist and a Jew gain a greater panorama of life to which their religious teachings must become relevant. If religion in the world is to educate and to enlighten, it must have this greater capacity and awareness."
 
−
<ref>Entering the Greater Community (May 27, 2011)</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
==References==
 
−
<references/>
 
−
 
 
−
== See also ==
 
−
[[The world's religions]]
 
−
 
 
−
[[Separation of Church and State]]
 
  
 
[[category:god]]
 
[[category:god]]
  
 
[[category:practice]]
 
[[category:practice]]

Latest revision as of 21:14, 5 March 2021

"Your religion now cannot be a religion of one world alone or for one people alone. It will have to be a Greater Community religion - God of the Universe, a spirituality of the Universe." [1]

“Do not think that religion in this world is a big mistake. It is actually the only thing that humanity has to offer the Greater Community at this point.” [2]

"All the religions have been initiated by God and changed by man."[3]

"Knowledge is what created all the world’s religions, and Knowledge is what unites them still, despite all of the separation and conflict that exist between them. For these are a human invention and not a Divine invention." [4]

Directives

Religious symbols.png

"This message is destined to reach people who have a greater spiritual affinity. Therefore, it is necessary that we elaborate on this subject. We advocate a spirituality that is taught in the Greater Community, not the spirituality that is governed by nations, governments or political alliances, but a natural spirituality - the ability to know, to see and to act."[5]

Many Pathways of Redemption

"The New Message has been sent to teach that all the religions were initiated by God, that all religions were changed by people, that God has created many pathways of redemption to meet the different needs and temperaments of people living at different times and in different cultures and that humanity should never assume God’s will or proclaim that their religion alone is the only religion. For God has created many pathways of redemption." [6]

“Thinking that your religion is the one true religion will stand in the way of your redemption. Condemning other nations, peoples and religions will prevent you from receiving this redemption. Being self-righteous and the defender of your faith will blind you, and you will turn your back to God.”[1]

"You must learn to climb up the other side, using the ladders that God has dropped down. And God has dropped down more than one ladder because God knows that not everyone will follow one ladder alone. God knows that not everyone will follow one Teaching or Teacher alone. And God knows that every great Revelation brought to the world will be corrupted by people over time, and so there must be further Revelations to bring clarification and correction to all the errors that humanity has made with the previous Revelations." [7]

Reformation of Religion

"The New Message from God transcends ideology. This transcends the controversies regarding these things because this is a new message from God for the redemption and preparation of the whole world for a reality and a future that will be very different from the past. Only God can provide such a thing, for even at this moment religions are divided even within themselves. They are contentions, unable to address adequately the great, rising global problems that will overtake humanity in the future if it is unprepared. Arguing over who has the best religion or the most astounding founder can only harm humanity now. It is divisive and exclusive to do this. It adds to the dilemma and the fracturing of the human family. God knows better and the one chosen to bring the Revelation is the perfect one." [8]

"Religion is not going to the church or the mosque or the temple or the holy site and going through the motions of what religious authorities have established as practice and custom. It is not forcing yourself to believe things that you hardly understand. That is not religion. Religion is the great engagement within you, between your thinking mind and the deeper mind of Knowledge within yourself."[9]

“Here you must realize that God has initiated all the world’s religions, and they have all been changed by people, even radically changed. To correct the errors of the past, to renew the true faith and to bring forth the great truth of the ancient religions in their pure form, God has sent a New Revelation into the world, not to replace the religions of the world, but to clarify them and to give them new strength and power and a greater unity with one another."[1]

Greater-than-religion.jpg

The lifeblood of religion

"Keeping religion alive in the world, despite its errors, took tremendous giving. You see, religion dies the minute after it is born. It is something that spoils very quickly and must be reborn every minute. If it is allowed to die, it becomes merely another thought system, a constraint now and not an apparatus for freedom. It must be renewed. What renews religion in the world is Knowledge, this quality of giving where individuals render their lives naturally. They infuse so much life into the idea of God that God comes alive. Without this infusion, God is dead. When people say, 'God is dead,' they say that because God has become merely an idea. The life of God is dissipated. Then someone comes along and gives his or her life and that is God. And you say, 'Oh, my. That is God!'" [10]

“The Way of Knowledge, which is at the heart of all the world’s religions, must become its essential teaching, instead of a focus for clerics and monastics and exceptional individuals only. This is the challenge before you, or religion will be part of the problem for humanity and not its essential means of reconciliation, inspiration and a high ethical awareness. Let this be your understanding.” [11]

“God does not need your belief. God does not need your worship. God does not need to be celebrated. God needs to be followed. You follow God most profoundly, most purely, not by believing in the edicts of religion necessarily, but by building your connection to Knowledge. If religion is functioning correctly, it is helping you to build a bridge to Knowledge, to your own conscience and to live responsibly, ethically and beneficially, both for yourself and for others.” [12]

“Whether you are religious or not, whether you believe in a religious teaching and adhere to that teaching, or whether you claim to have no religious affiliation, your progress is entirely dependent upon your connection to Knowledge.” [13]

“The deeper recognition happens beyond the realm of the intellect. You may create ideas and evaluations of these experiences to your benefit, perhaps, but the experience itself is happening at a deeper level. It is getting to this deeper level that represents the focus of religion and spiritual practice in all of its forms.” [14]

"God has planted Knowledge within every person as the seed and source of their redemption. Redemption will not occur because you believe in a great saint or a great Messenger. Redemption will not even occur if you believe in God or practice a religion faithfully, for you are still lost in the mind, the worldly mind. Your attempt at religion is an escape from the world, a desperate attempt to have purpose and meaning in your life that transcends the hard realities that you see all around you." [15]

"There is a great difference between the manifestation of religion—and all of its great edifices and pronouncements, its admonitions, its ideology, its cosmology, its theology—and the Mystery that lives within each person, waiting to be discovered." [16]

Quotes About the True Purpose of Religion

Quotes About the Abuse of Religion

The end of provincial religion

"You cannot claim your religion is the only religion or the great religion or the last religion or the final religion, for this is to claim that you know God’s Plan and Purpose now and into the future, and no one on Earth, no one in the physical universe, can make such a claim." [17]

"The theologies and philosophies upon which each religion is built must be adaptable and responsive to a growing panorama of life and to a changing set of circumstances that represent the evolution of a race."[18]

Minarets

Lifespans of Religions

"Old religions will have to expand and adapt or they will die out." [19]

"Religions have life spans. This is true throughout the Greater Community. Religions have life spans because they serve eras of development. Then they are either replaced or they change and expand in order to adapt. If they cannot adapt, they will be replaced because the reality of life will make their teaching and their emphasis less and less relevant and meaningful. In the Greater Community, religions are initiated, they reach a maturity and then they enter old age where they die off. Out of their old age a new impetus, a new meaning and a new message can be given to restore and to renew the race’s spiritual vitality and to give this vitality an immediate relevancy to life as it is expanding and developing."[20]

Religious leadership and education

"What essentially is the role of religious leaders in nearly all situations is to be providers and maintainers." [21]

"Even amongst the religious, there are few who know the power and presence that God has placed within them, and that is why the saints and the mystics throughout time have been persecuted by the clerics—those who are people of the word and the law, but not people of the Spirit and the Mystery." [22]

Quotes About Religion and the Intervention

"This Group Mind process of course is being used throughout the world in leadership circles in government and religion and commerce, but rarely is Knowledge their guide, and rarely do they employ seers. Humanity just has not reached this level of sophistication yet. So regarding your position in the Greater Community, humanity is at a disadvantage here. Its strength, your strength, is that religion has been kept alive in the world. The recognition of God’s power and presence is honored and recognized by many, whereas in most nations in this region of space, religion has either become worship of the state or has disappeared altogether. Here you have an advantage because even the ancient pathways of religion offer the experience of Knowledge. Perhaps this is not emphasized. Perhaps this is not specified in the Teachings, but the individual is encouraged to have a relationship with the Divine and to be responsive to the Divine in most situations." [23]

"Having no religion of their own, [the Intervention] will use yours to engender their own values."[24]

Religion and the Greater Community

"How can you have a personal religion, like you have in the world, without God being localized? In the Greater Community, then, God is Knowledge." [25]

"You see, religion and spirituality are different. Spirituality is the essence and the substance. Religion is the method and the means. In the Greater Community, because of the diversity of life, there is never just one way."[26]

"God does not care what religion you belong to. God is not attached to the theology of any religion, for in the universe there are countless religions. God will respond to the turning of your life, to the opening of your heart, to the emerging need of the soul, the deepest need you have, which is the need to fulfill your purpose as the means of reconciliation".[27]

"Here a Christian must become a Christian with a Greater Community awareness. A Muslim becomes a Muslim with a Greater Community awareness. A Buddhist and a Jew gain a greater panorama of life to which their religious teachings must become relevant. If religion in the world is to educate and to enlighten, it must have this greater capacity and awareness."[28]

"The free nations in this part of the universe seek to promote freedom wherever they can. They view your world as showing great promise because spirituality and religion have not been destroyed or forgotten here. They see that the power of Knowledge, the greater spiritual power, is still alive in individuals, despite humanity’s grave mistakes and foolish activities." [29]

References

Greater Community Spirituality, the New Message book of theology.
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The One God, Chapter 2: The New God Revelation
  2. ↑ The Great Love (November 23, 2007)
  3. ↑ The Pure Religion: Religious Fundamentalism
  4. ↑ The One God, Chapter 1: Comprehending God
  5. ↑ The Allies of Humanity Book One, First Briefing: The Extraterrestrial Presence in the World Today
  6. ↑ The Great Waves of Change, Chapter 13: A New Message of Hope
  7. ↑ The One God, Chapter 12: The Heart of God
  8. ↑ The Mission of the Messenger (beginning at 46:00)
  9. ↑ The New Message for the Impoverished and Oppressed (April 18, 2008]
  10. ↑ Wisdom from the Greater Community Volume I, Chapter 16: Giving II
  11. ↑ The New Message on Religion (July 20, 2009)
  12. ↑ Preparing for the Future (September 5, 2007)
  13. ↑ The One God, Chapter 9: God, Knowledge and the Angelic Presence
  14. ↑ The Power of Knowledge, Chapter 9: Knowledge and the Limits of Belief
  15. ↑ Ending Separation (March 3, 2011)
  16. ↑ The Pure Religion: God's Ancient Covenant with Humanity
  17. ↑ The Burden of the Messenger (April 5, 2011)
  18. ↑ Greater Community Spirituality, Chapter 27: What is the evolution of religion in the world?
  19. ↑ Greater Community Spirituality, Chapter 18: What is human destiny?
  20. ↑ Greater Community Spirituality, Chapter 26: Who is Jesus?
  21. ↑ The Age of Women (November 14, 2007)
  22. ↑ God's Plan to Save Everyone (October 14, 2014)
  23. ↑ Group Mind (March 18, 2011)
  24. ↑ The Allies of Humanity Book One, Fourth Briefing: Manipulation of Religious Traditions and Beliefs
  25. ↑ Greater Community Spirituality, Chapter 15: Who serves humanity?
  26. ↑ Greater Community Spirituality, Chapter 19: What is Religion?
  27. ↑ The Power of Knowledge, Chapter 7: The Reconciliation
  28. ↑ The Greater Community, Chapter 4: Entering the Greater Community (May 27, 2011)
  29. ↑ The Allies of Humanity Book Three: Who are the Allies of Humanity?

See also

Is this a new religion?

The world's religions

Separation of Church and State

The purpose of religion

Evolution of religion

Further Study

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