Facing Our Mortality

How do you define personal fulfillment? What does it mean when people speak of living life to the fullest? When we examine our own happiness in a deep soul searching way that transcends materialism and self awareness, our perception of what defines us ultimately settles upon our mortality.

Co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, in many ways lived the American dream.  However, on his death bed he had time to reflect as he lay dying of pancreatic cancer.  He wrote, “At this moment, lying on the bed, sick and remembering all my life, I realize that all my recognition and wealth that I have is meaningless in the face of imminent death.”  At the age of 56, Steve Jobs was worth $7 billion when he passed away.  He went on to pen, “Your true inner happiness does not come from the material things of this world.  Whether you’re flying first class, or economy class – if the plane crashes, you crash with it.”

If all we have in this life are the things of this world, we will never achieve true and total happiness.  What drives people to achieve great things, often becomes a disappointment after they have achieved them, or their achievements may be at the expense of their loved ones.  Not that they become less than they anticipated, but that the fulfillment from material things is only temporal and sooner or later we all reach the point where we stare at death’s door.  The human condition has been inherently flawed ever since that fateful day in the garden, when Adam and Eve made the choice to rely upon their own wisdom rather than trusting God.

Our concept of God has been lost in a multitude of ideologies that mankind has formulated from philosophical assertions that lack an eternal perspective.  By denying the supernatural, humanity has severely limited its perception of reality to the 3-d physical that we can see, hear and touch.  In an effort to fit God inside this box, people have endeavored to create their own interpretation of God and in doing so they have given birth to countless “gods” and many, many religions, becoming captive to their own inventions. 

Religion has become a man-made, self-serving monster that has grown like a malignant tumor.  It encompasses many belief systems, corrupts the pure, perverts the vulnerable, deceives the innocent and builds wealth at the expense of the poor.  Religion is a tragedy that undermines the very fabric of faith.  It eats away at the sincerity of the heart by setting obstacles in the way of salvation that only serve the establishment and lay claim to one’s righteousness through the observance of ritual and ceremony. How is a person supposed to sort through the mountains of doctrine to find the truth?  The message of the gospel is simple and yet at the same time it is deeper that our deepest desire to know God.  Religious enterprise has thrived on the splitting of hairs in some cases when it comes to interpreting scripture, leading to mass confusion and self-defeating logic that only serves to drive people away.  Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Luke 18:17. 

The corruption of mankind and the willingness to give in to greed, lust and the temptations of power have left us with a distorted and skeptical perspective that has us questioning our existence yet unwilling to accept the truth.  For the past two thousand years, the failures of man to abide in truth with regards to the message of the gospel has twisted the Christian narrative and destroyed the credibility of the Church.  Under the umbrella of institutionalized religion, church congregations have become enslaved to rules and rituals that Jesus set us free from, and the messages from many pulpits bear little resemblance to the teachings of Christ and the apostles.  Why would a slave who was freed return to bondage like a dog returning to its own vomit?

One day we will draw our last breath on this earth and as believers we will step through the gates of heaven and into the presence of the Lord and so we will be with the Lord forever. Rather than approaching death with fear and anxiety, we can look at death as simply a change in venue. A transformation from a flawed and tormented world to a perfect and peaceful paradise where there will be no more death, pain, sorrow or mourning.

My recently published book “Seeking Truth” challenges the axioms that traditional religion has instituted to perpetuate its own interests and mislead generations of truth seekers. Join me in a deep dive into the intimate desire God has for a personal relationship with us through the exploration of the tension between religion and faith. Between ritual and relationship. Ceremony and servitude. We have one life to live which constitutes a short window of opportunity to discern truth and apply it in a meaningful and lasting way.