63rd Live Stream with Carlton Pearson - Faith That Transcends Religion

About this sermon

There is faith that transcends religion and is beyond fear based theologies! Those who love to use their "bible bullets and bazookas" to shoot, wound and even destroy people with whom they disagree or whom they feel are "sinners" infidels, "heathen" or just different, do so to defend their ideologies, superstitions and unreasoned or unreasonable dogmas, while presuming their superficial piety elevates them to spiritual superiority as did the Pharisees of old. In actuality, their religious militancy simply displays their ignorance, arrogance, spiritual immaturity and egoic superficiality, in the same way the 'emperor with no clothes' does in that old fable. Many use the term "word of God" to defend their staunch religious postures and positions to support their often mean spirited, hurtful arrogance and pride. People who worship a "God" who loves and hates simultaneously in a kind of schizophrenic ambiguity, tend to display that same kind of schizophrenia in their lives and relationships. Schizophrenia is a usually long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation. Unfortunately, millions of the "faithful", like their chosen "god", tend to be schizophrenic, unreliable, cannot be trusted or authentically loved, though out of fear (that god) may be worshipped and supposed "his word" obeyed. To these people Jesus is quoted to have said in Mark 7:13 "you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down". Institutional religion creates and nurtures that kind of numbing psychosis. This is one of the reasons Pope Francis says religious fundamentalists display attributes of mental illness in their strong and forceful embrace of extreme idealisms. We can all maintain faith and still be free from the mental abuse and bondage of hyper-fundamentalism. The time has come for this wonderful new way of being. Carlton Pearson After college at the Oral Roberts University in Tulsa Oklahoma he served for 15 years on its Board of Regents, and two years as Associate Evangelist of The Oral Roberts Association, (ORA). In 1977, Pearson founded Higher Dimensions Ministries (now New Dimensions ), in Tulsa, which grew to over 5,000. Bishop Pearson was consecrated to the office of Bishop in 1996 thru a College of Bishops headed by Bishop Charles E Blake, presently the Presiding Bishop of the Churches of God In Christ, the denomination he was raised in and through whom he was ordained in 1971. In 1993, Carlton married the former Gina Marie Gauthier who is a professional Life Coach and Yoga teacher. More recently, he has felt a passion to proclaim the "Gospel Of Inclusion" and has written a widely acclaimed book by that name, published by Simon and Schuster. It confronts the Christian church's exclusivism as being inconsistent, in spirit with the teachings of Jesus. Pearson's frank and often controversial take on a number of different subjects has earned him appearances on television programs such as NBC and MSNBC's Dateline, ABC's Nightline, 20/20, Good Morning America, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley, The Edge with Paula Zahn and Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, The Monique Show on BET, and a number of other television, radio and print media outlets. Bishop Pearson was recognized as one of America's 10 Most Influential Black Ministers by Gospel Today and Belief.net. He has received several honorary doctoral degrees. Bishop Pearson recently served as the Interim Senior Minister at Christ Universal Temple in Chicago. He and Gina now host New Dimensions of Chicago, building a local multi-cultural and radically Inclusive spiritual community that emphasizes expanded consciousness and Self Actualization. His newest book, God Is Not A Christian, Nor A Jew, Muslim, Hindu...God Dwells With Us, In Us, Around Us, As Us was published by Simon and Schuster and released in the spring of 2010. Visit our Youtube Channel for more video! Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/bishoppearson Website: http://www.bishoppearson.com Join Email List: http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/d.jsp?llr=cqgwpvn6&p=oi&m=1011112155650

Topics

• Faith