“I think people are tired of religion and how it divides and damages people. You can name it whatever you want, Islam or Christianity, but if you have a system in which God is distant and angry all the time, and you're trying to please him through the right disciplines, it isn't going to work for everyone.” PeopleIfsThinkingWantTryingNamesChristianityDisciplinePleaseAngryTiredIslamDamageDividesGoing To Work Author:William P. Young
“I'm trying to get far away from [picturing God as] Gandalf or Santa Claus.” TryingGodFar AwaySantaSanta Claus Author:William P. Young
“Lies are a little fortress; inside them you can feel safe and powerful. Through your little fortress of lies you try to run your life and manipulate others. But the fortress needs walls, so you build some. These are the justifications for your lies. You know, like you are doing this to protect someone you love, to keep them from feeling pain. Whatever works, just so you feel okay about the lies.” KnowsNeedsFeelsTryingLittlesFeelingsRunningPainLyingPowerfulLike YouWallProtectSafeOkayJustificationManipulateOne You LoveSomeone You LoveFortressesWhatever WorksFeeling Pain Author:William P. Young
“It's always been you know, religion that has been the primary impediment to actual relationship with God, because it creates a mythology about performance -- that you can perform your way into the appeasement of the deity. And you know, when you're born inside the cultural framework that I was, and you're born inside the religious traditions that I was, that becomes your understanding of spirituality: That it's about trying to please God. So, it's really not about God at all; it's about our ability to perform according to whatever the expectations are.” KnowsWayTryingHas BeensReligionSpiritualityUnderstandingBornReligiousAbilityPleaseExpectationsTraditionPerformancesMythologyPrimariesDeitiesFrameworkRelationship With GodImpedimentsReligious TraditionsAppeasement Author:William P. Young
“Religion and anger has gone together a lot, historically. My father, being very religious and angry, was trying to reconcile the ideas of love and forgiveness with damage in his own heart. We historically create God in the image of someone who will redeem us, or someone who has damaged us. A lot of my imaginations of God was a projection of my own damage because of my father. God is good but he has a lot of expectations, of which I have failed -- just like my dad. But I don't think it's truthful to create God as a projection of either our damage or our altruism.” ThinkingTryingHeartIdeasTogetherFatherImaginationReligiousMy OwnGoneDadExpectationsAngryMy DadDamageTruthfulAltruismMy ImaginationProjectionReconcileLove And Forgiveness Author:William P. Young
“those who are afraid of freedom are those who cannot trust us to live in them. Trying to keep the law is actually a declaration of independence, a way of keeping control” WayTryingLawIndependenceDeclarationDeclaration Of Independence Author:William P. Young
“It grants you the power to judge others and feel superior to them. You believe you are living to a higher standard than those you judge. Enforcing rules, especially in more subtle expressions like responsibility and expectation, is a vain attempt to create certainly out of uncertainty. And contrary to what you might think, I have a great fondness for uncertainty. Rules cannot bring freedom; they only have the power to accuse.” ThinkingFeelsTryingBelieveMightLawResponsibilityExpressionJudgingHigherStandardsExpectationsLawyerContrarySuperiorsVainUncertaintySubtleGrantsFondnessHigher Standards Author:William P. Young
“Through . . . lies you try to run your life and manipulate others. . . . Lies become an inhibitor in your relationship . . . .” TryingRunningLyingManipulate Author:William P. Young
“I am what some would say 'holy, and wholly other than you.' The problem is that many folks try to grasp some sense of who I am by taking the best version of themselves, projecting that to the nth degree, factoring in all the goodness they can perceive, which often isn't much, and then call that God. And while it may seem like a noble effort, the truth is that it falls pitifully short of who I really am. I'm not merely the best version of you that you can think of. I am far more than that, above and beyond all that you can ask or think.” ThinkingTryingMayProblemSeemsFallAsksEffortHolyTruth IsGoodnessDegreesFolksNobleWho I AmVersionsPerceiveShackAbove And BeyondShack BookFactoring Author:William P. Young
“I have moments that aren't too bad, but there's always something I'm struggling with, or feeling guilty about. I just figured I needed to try harder, but I find it difficult to sustain that motivation.” TryingMomentsFeelingsMotivationDifficultStruggleNeededHarderGuiltyFeeling Guilty Author:William P. Young
