Beginning a new life is, in some ways, the ONE spiritual topic that people have to get right.
In John, there's the famous statement by Jesus: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3).
By this Jesus was saying that in order to go to heaven, all we need to do is - with the Lord's help - stop doing evil things, and start doing good things. When we do that, we are essentially starting a new life, or being reborn spiritually.
Some Christian churches teach that this process of rebirth happens at the moment that we accept Jesus Christ has our personal savior; other churches teach that it happens little by little, over time, as we root out bad habit and bad thought patterns, and develop good ones. The New Church teaches that when a person reaches adulthood and rationality, he or she is then able to begin the process of the being "born again" - the process of regeneration and personal transformation from being one who is led by self to being one who lives to serve the Divine and his own fellow human beings.
There's much more that could be said on this topic, but... one thing that we've encountered recently that may be of interest to many Bible readers is the "Begin a New Life" workshop developed by Rev. Mark Pendleton, in Illinois, USA.
It's easy to want to change your life, but it's not easy to actually do it. Mark has developed - during many years as a pastor - a universal, faith-based program that helps you make and sustain any life change that you want or need to make — one or two changes at a time.
Here's what he says about it: "It doesn’t matter how big or small the change is, this program can help. As you go through the program for different issues in your life, your life is steadily, even miraculously transformed—from outside in, and inside out. You grow in personal clarity and power to choose, and you rise to new levels of hope and promise that are meaningful and real."
One inspirational passage that helps drive the first step in the program is found in Psalms 139:23-24.
This link will take you to the home page for this program: http://www.beginanewlife.info
(Препратки: Arcana Coelestia 5202 [4], 9042)
