Apr 15
1
Tell the World What You Believe – Part Nine
The WRONG QUESTION
To get the best answer...ask what to ask.
Asking the wrong question will not produce a correct answer – unless, that is, we are willing to look at the question from a whole different perspective …then voilà’ – in plain English, there you have it, the answer!
Here’s a wrong question with which to provide an example – well, let’s back up a bit, my publisher and webmaster, for several years, Ryan Bruce, asked me with no little exasperation, can’t you come up with a different example?
It is a proven fact that once the human mind believes in anything sufficiently it gets changed to conform to the belief. The example that Ryan was fussing about was my proclivity to use the story of Roger Bannister to prove the point. I use it for the reason that it helps people in the mind-trap of skepticism escape it; there’s a big IF to that one, which is IF they want to take the first step toward believing a simple premise that Jesus introduced, “NOTHING SHALL BE IMPOSSIBLE TO ANY INDIVIDUAL WHO BELIEVES ENOUGH!”
"I'm not a Christian!"..."Neither was Jesus?"
The foregoing quote is an accurate translation from the original language.
Of course, as soon as I introduce the name of Jesus, the religious mind goes in one direction, the non-or-anti-religious mind takes it in an entirely different direction. This series, however, is about what Brad Cullen believes which I fully admit had its genesis in the religion called Christianity.
I have refused to be called a Christian or by any other religious label for many years, for the simple reason that Christianity unwittingly promotes unbelief; another thing about which Ryan fusses at me is that I continually (habitually) use the excuse that, “the reason I refuse to be called a Christian is that the term means too many different things to too many different people to communicate anything to anyone.”
What I’ve said, also repeatedly, about the Roger Bannister story is that if you can just start there in understanding the power of believing ENOUGH (the operative word), you can grow in believing enough to get to what Jesus said was possible for any individual.
If we go back to 1953, 99% of the experts believed that what Roger Bannister did in 1954 was humanly impossible. In 1953 99.99999999999% percent of all people believed what the experts were saying. One year later, 1954, everyone was forced into believing it and the feat has become commonplace.
Your facts have no effect on my beliefs.
Of course, I can tell you that Ryan is most likely fuming over me taking forever to get to the point – but that’s only because he, like the rest of you, who already know where I’m going, ALREADY believes enough to do some of the things Jesus said we could do …and which most people, including devout Christians, don’t believe are possible for them.
So, what is the point? Ah yes, asking the wrong question doesn’t produce a correct answer UNLESS we are willing to look at it from a different perspective …and here, drum roll please – is the question: “Why can’t God do such and such?” Brad Cullen’s answer is God can, BUT the issue here is quite different: Because the question, as posed, simply locks us into our mindset, whatever it means. Brad Cullen insists that such a question is “closed loop” meaning that it will lead the questioner to conform to whatever preconceived belief and point of view he/she already has (period).
Here’s an exercise that will help bring belief further along than what we’re currently able and prepare us to take a fresh look at something I’ll pose in the next segment:
Write down every question that goes, “Why can’t God____________?” …that is, all the things you firmly believe are impossible …fill in the blank with them and, if you’d like to challenge me with any of them, by all means have at it, send directly to me: brad@spiritualhealingsource.com or just fasten your seat belt and anxiously await #10 …that’s next.
bc