My Spirituality Notes

august 24, 2010
Jeffery Jefferytv Mitchell ‎ i can try to answer for why i am spiritual but dont believe in god. god is a supreme being that is not only separate from our universe, but is above it and controls it. i do not believe such an entity exists.   

i believe there are interactions between our consciousness’ that we are not aware of yet. i believe that feeling you get with a group; church, when cheering at a football game or getting it in a club is a form or spirituality. i believe there is human created spirituality. i dont believe spiritual means supernatural. spirituality to me is a network that connects everything in the universe that we have not detected yet. we communicate with each other in ways we are not aware of yet.  

as far as “spirits” go, im leaning towards individual consciousness each having an energy that is unique and has information. not sure if i believe it can actively interact or just exist as a spirit or essence of someone.   

i believe in faith. faith works and is for real. i believe you would get the same results if you put your faith in god or a suitcase. its your faith that moves.   

i believe in religion as the organization, ritualization, ceremony, reverence, art, prayers, archectecture, fellowship, etc. religion is the organized structure that when not perverted is a good thing.   

i believe in meditation and “prayer” as they work with faith and somehow when individual consciousness focus on something there is an effect on the whole because of the unknown connectivity we have with each other (a spirituality network)   

xxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx Jeffery, it pretty much sounds like you believe on God, you just express it differently.   

Jeffery Jefferytv Mitchell ‎@xxxx please explain, i dont see how after i stated what i believe god is and that i dont believe in that. maybe if you believe what im describing is god, maybe what you believe in is not god. 


july 23, 2010
is there ANY possibility that YOU and the spirit of love and the people around you could have been the catalyst for such a change? could it just have been time for a change? where was the lord when you were having these problems? did the lord say “ok, today i will unburden the bossman” or was it you who decided deep down that it was time for a change and used your own “power of faith” in god (not god) to make things happen?  

how do you know it was the lord? did he talk to you? did something happen to give you an indication that a supernatural event occurred?   

i believe in faith and that faith works. we get power and energy from faith (no matter what its in) and not from any external entity in the sky. i believe we make our own miracles…   

people gonna say im not a believer and that since i dont believe i dont understand. but i would really like for someone to explain to me these things and not be defensive, dismissive or beg me just to believe and except without reason….   

love is highest
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i saw it first in my great grandmother. how everything in the family passed threw her house in some way or form. i saw how much work and love and drama and kids and food and church and everything she did. i was in church with her every single sunday i stayed over her house and i saw her praise the lord with all her heart. i understand now she was celebrating and fueling her faith. singing and gaining energy, peace of mind, meditation. but when she got home and was handling us kids and business, it was clear to me god ain’t have nothing to do with that. it was on her strength, experience and knowledge that we rode, though she would thank god for it all day long.   

i believe ive gotten most of what i am from my parents. knowledge and strength that was passed to them from many generations and cultures. thousands of years of magic and miracles and love has been passed down to us by that which has evolved before us.   

@Harriet thanks for your response. I think in a way we are saying the same thing about faith. hope i aint get too excited about this! LOL…   

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Tee Cooksey : Jeffery Mitchell: Thank you for the above query. I was driving when your comment came across my blackberry, in route to bible study however, I was very moved by your questions and couldn’t wait to get settled so I could address them accordingly and respectively.   

First, let me say YES, there is a possibility that Derrick, the Spirit of Love and the people around him were catalyst for such a change because God (with a capital G) is love and He is also a Spirit. 1John 4:8 states, “Whoever does not love, does not know God, because God is love.”   

Second, in another passage of scripture (John 4:24), the writer states, “God is Spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth”   

Third, the people around him were in fact catalysts and/or vessels whom God used to prompt the change which came about—particularly his woman, Sherry, whom I know, is SAVED, Sanctified and filled with Holy Ghost—however she never judged or gave up on him, but remained steadfast in prayer for his soul!   

Fourth, with respect to your question, “could it just have been time for a change?” Yes, it was time for a change, however you must understand that the things which belong to us as human beings, we’ve been endowed to do in and of ourselves, meaning, there are certain things we have power over…and those things take little to no effort at all, but then there are things such as breathing, whereby we must rely on the One who is the GIVER and SUSTAINER of life to do, as well as to bring about the change you’re witnessing in Derrick by the very testimony that’s coming from his mouth.   

Fifth, concerning your questions, “where was the lord when you were having these problems? did the lord say “ok, today i will unburden the bossman” or was it you who decided deep down that it was time for a change and used your own “power of faith” in god (not god) to make things happen?   

Jeffrey, it’s quite evident that the LORD was present when he was having problems, seeing as though he is an over-comer and has lived to testify of the LORDS goodness and sustaining power.   

Yes and No Jeffrey concerning whether Derrick decided on his own that it was time for a change. No because the bible teaches us that “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” (John 6:44) This means that the drawing is totally beyond our control. On the other hand, Yes, because while he didn’t decide the day or hour in which he would receive his salvation, (since this was already planned before the foundations of the world), he did in fact answer the call and said YES, I’m ready for a change LORD. So you see it’s two-fold, God calls and those who accept the call, have a willing spirit to say YES to the call.   

Sixth, “how did he know it was the LORD, did something happen to give him an indication that a supernatural event occurred.” Jeffrey you just know, and if I were to try to explain it, I’d be spinning my wheels since that which I’m speaking and that which Derrick experienced (and is experiencing) when he accepted the call, are spiritual and would be hard for you to understand or even comprehend in the natural since the scripture states:   

“These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2: 13-14).   

Seventh, it’s good that you believe in faith and that it works however, it sounds as if you have faith in yourself and not in GOD and therefore you’re operating under a different set of principles and beliefs which will only work for so long because there will come a time when you will recognize that you cannot sustain yourself…and you WILL look to the hills from whence cometh your help because all of your help comes from the LORD, whether you realize it or not. And just like there was an appointed day/hour for Derrick, there will be an appointed day for you as well…in fact, I think the hour is now..which is probably why I felt so compelled to respond to you in detail.   

Finally, I wouldn’t say that you’re not a believer but more so an agnostic, which is someone who believes that there is not enough evidence to prove or disprove whether or not, God exists. And that’s ok…you’re not deficient because you’re different. We’re all different. And God is not angry with you for having questions—He wants you to ask questions and those of us who take time to study the WORD and not just go to church and have a religious emotional experience on Sunday know that the scripture teaches us to “always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you…” (1Peter 3:15).   

So in summation, I feel that you asked the right questions…that’s what an intelligent individual does. I’m the same way, I don’t take anyone’s word…I read it, study it, research it, pray on it, and then teach I it.   

That being said, I think you were hitting on all the right points however your points are misguided! I will pray for you Jeffrey…that the Father of Lights draws you to Him, (as he did with Derrick) and cause His light to shine in the dark places of your life. I will pray that He removes the scales from your eyes in order that you might see and accept the TRUTH and I will pray that you come into the knowledge of who you are in Christ Jesus! Additionally, if you truly desire to know not just the God in heaven but the God who resides everywhere, who created the heavens and the earth and everything that dwells within, I’d be delighted to minister His plan of Salvation to you. For this is my vocation…winning souls for Christ and definitely one in which I take pleasure in and strive daily to walk worthy of my calling.   

God Bless you my brother. I hope the above information helps! Tee   

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Jeffery Pure-Funk Mitchell ‎@tee WOW! thank you thank you thank you for your response. i read it the first day and have been glancing over and thinking about it the last few days. and im still digesting. there are points you make that i do not agree with or i think “incorrect” but i dont want to go point -counter point (yet) as i want to absorb and learn and try to see it as … See Moreyou do. so i really do thank you and i LOVE my blackberry!! LOL ok i may stereotype but a church and jesus lovin black female with a blackberry gettin facebook mobile updates on her way to bible study? see, i need to open my eyes!!  
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You know I preach that faith works. “Faith in what” is where yall get it wrong. Stripping yourself, people and the family around you, the earth and life of its “magical” capabilities and accomplishments.
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Because of evolution, it is physically impossible for there to be a better place than earth for human beings.   

i’m assuming the traditional definition of “heaven” as “a place your soul goes to be with god after you die.” If a “soul” or spirit exists, it is not human. There has to be a transformation to something that has never been observed and for which no evidence exists.   

Correction: If a “soul” or spirit exists, it is not a human being. It could be “human” though.


No heaven or hell
We are not born in sin   

I believe religion and faith “work” and are benefits.   

Faith is the belief in things for which there is no evidence. It seems we associate blind unconditional devotion with faith also. The devotion that religious people have is like being “in love” with a philosophy or with life. They can transfer what they know as a natural love for another person to an object, institution or belief.   

As long as we choose to live “under god,” we will always be under some kind of god. For mankind and maybe life itself to reach its full potential we must rise above the limits god and religion instills.   

I do not believe in good or bad. Everything is relative.   

Evil does not exist   

There never was nothing   

prayer = meditation.
praying is meditating.


jan 28, 2010
From a recent facebook post:
Jeffery Jefferytv Mitchell how does your faith explain a compassionate protecting god and recent tragic events? are you truly satisfied by the way your belief system answers this and ANY other questions that you are confronted with? if you are, that’s all that counts and no man or questioning should ever trouble you. and that’s where i am with m…y beliefs as an atheist, never troubled…

Andrea Gilliam-Washington The Bible speaks of wars and rumors of wars and also various calamity happening in the “last days” Human death is not so paramount to God.

Death is just a mere truncation to the number of days that we (thought we) have left. As if our God even owes us a ‘tomorrow’. To me, death is a mere shadow of reality. They’re facing their judgement,……. … See Morethe way the rest of us will.

The question doesn’t trouble me…..*maybe* and I use the maybe loosely your non belief troubles me. But again, we all have choices and “free will”. Did I answer?! 😉

Jeffery Jefferytv Mitchell  the question was deliberately worded as to be a “question” that can only be answered by one to one’s self. but since we gettin technical, i will evaluate.

you refer to the bible as if its the ultimate authority, like its guaranteed. i can show you scripture that even you disagree with. you then use the bible to demean human life in god’s eyes and as a whole. and infer that we are blessed that god even lets us live at all. this does not seem logical as to why he would give us life in the first place at all…

the statement “To me, death is a mere shadow of reality” is poetic but means absolutely nothing, and its not even accurate. death is reality not a shadow of it. … See More

as far as them “facing judgement” thats a major assumption you are making based on faith. how you reconcile that with a compassionate god who would kill 100,000 and injure (not kill to send to judgement) is a whole other discussion.

i admit i fired this post directly at the doubts i know believers have. and i commend you for your honesty in using “*maybe*.” that “maybe” basically makes my case. cause ii have no doubts or maybes cause i dont believe in anything that i dont undestand.

the icing on this cake is you have NO PROOF OR EVIDENCE for anything you say, you take it on faith. now you may say that i dont either, but i didnt make any claims about reality.

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nov 15, 2009

“If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her.” (Deuteronomy 22:28-29 NLT)

“However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way.” (Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT)
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oct 4, 2009

i have witnessed and felt the power of both faith and love. I am an atheist but I have faith in spiritual things. I am not a skeptic. “redirecting” the power and energy of faith to focus on ourselves and not in the sky will eliminate 95% of the worlds problems and create a heaven on earth.

I can’t think of anything that can replace the power faith has in human beings, besides love which is also a faith. “Redidrecting” faith will make humanity “better” cause we would treat each other and everything around us as we treat god. From this our morals will come. Like a “natural morality”

the goal of life is survival, to continue “forever.” not for one form of it to be delivered to a better place forsaking all that life in its many forms has evolved to be. the goal of the bible is to discard mother earth, all life and all sh…e and we have created for a unseen unproven “better” place. the goal of the bible is the end of life.

devoting your life to god and living under pre-determined philosophies is not living, its existing. accepting you can never go or be “higher” than that is not fully living your life or utilizing your consciousness. so when people say by bel…ieving in god they loose nothing if wrong when they die as opposed to non-believers, I say your not really living your life fully with that mindset.
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sept 19, 2009

To get to the point when you are living life according to self developed “rules” and understandings. To have love for everything with  confidence and no fears according to your own moral code. Not having to answer to anything in any universe for what one believes, be it in life or at death.
 
I have grown to be free to place my faith in whatever I want and shape it however I want  answering to nothing and there is an euphoric freedom in this. I believe conscious freedom is the most grand attainable thing.To find harmony with everything based on one’s own beliefs and not following or bowing down to anything is the heaven many people seek

a life and an act like that is not in harmony with everything
around it. It causes a friction to some degree.

to be in harmony with everything around you living according to
your own inherent personal moral code without fear of any kind of
ultimate judgement.

to live under no one’s or any god’s understanding of how you
should live but your own. You don’t have to go to a book or any
kind of spiritual leader for guidance or answers. It becomes all
but natural and is revealed in your every act, right down to the
way you move. Its a confidence that everyone can see. There is no
guilt or worry cause you are not trying to live up to an external
standard.

You place yourself and everything around you at the same level or
higher than what a lot of people call god. Everything becomes
“god” and a part of god and you treat everything with that kind
of reverence, and you are in harmony with it all. Achieving this
understanding during one’s life is heaven on earth for this
harmony protects you from “evil” and the things
around you will come to your rescue when you need them. Harmony
also means taking care of your physical body: eating healthy,
being active physically and mentally. Always continuing to learn
as life and your environment changes, etc…

Black Skeptics Group to gather in Los Angeles

The Black Skeptics Group which was founded by Dr. Sikivu Hutchinson, will hold a monthly gatherinng at Simply Wholesome in Los Angeles on December 19, 2010 at 11:30 am. Open dialogue and discussion of future events is planned.

http://blackskeptics.blogspot.com/ for more information.

In association with www.blackhumanism.org

Americans’ views of God shape attitudes on key issues: USA Today

By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY 
full article at USA Today

Asked about the Baylor findings, Philip Yancey, author of What Good Is God?, says he moved from the Authoritative God of his youth — “a scowling, super-policeman in the sky, waiting to smash someone having a good time” — to a “God like a doctor who has my best interest at heart, even if sometimes I don’t like his diagnosis or prescriptions.”

•The Critical God. The poor, the suffering and the exploited in this world often believe in a Critical God who keeps an eye on this world but delivers justice in the next, Bader says.

Bader says this view of God — held by 21% of Americans — was reflected in a sermon at a working-class neighborhood church the researchers visited in Rifle, Colo., in 2008. Pastor Del Whittington’s theme at Open Door Church was ” ‘Wait until heaven, and accounts will be settled.’ ”

Bader says Whittington described how ” ‘our cars that are breaking down here will be chariots in heaven. Our empty bank accounts will be storehouses with the Lord.’ ”

•The Distant God. Though about 5% of Americans are atheists or agnostics, Baylor found that nearly one in four (24%) see a Distant God that booted up the universe, then left humanity alone.

This doesn’t mean that such people have no religion. It’s the dominant view of Jews and other followers of world religions and philosophies such as Buddhism or Hinduism, the Baylor research finds.

Rabbi Jamie Korngold of Boulder, Colo., took Baylor’s God quiz and clicked with the Distant God view “that gives me more personal responsibility. There’s no one that can fix things if I mess them up. God’s not telling me what I should do,” says Korngold. Her upcoming book, God Envy: A Rabbi’s Confession, is subtitled, A Book for People Who Don’t Believe God Can Intervene in Their Lives and Why Judaism Is Still Important.

Others who cite a Distant God identify more with the spiritual and speak of the unknowable God behind the creation of rainbows, mountains or elegant mathematical theorems, the Baylor writers found.

This distant view is nothing new. Benjamin Franklin once wrote that he could not imagine that a “Supremely Perfect” God cares a whit for “such an inconsiderable Nothing as Man.”

The Baylor researchers’ four views of God reveal a richness that denominational labels often don’t capture. They found that Catholics and mainline Protestants are about evenly divided among all four views, leaning slightly toward a Benevolent God. More than half of white evangelicals identify with an Authoritative God; that view is shared by more than seven in 10 black evangelicals, they said.

full article at USA Today

Survey: Atheists Are Most Knowledgeable About Religion

 http://www.pewforum.org/Other-Beliefs-and-Practices/U-S-Religious-Knowledge-Survey.aspx

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/us/28religion.html

http://blog.beliefnet.com/omeoflittlefaith/2010/09/atheists-know-more-about-the-bible-than-christians.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39397251/ns/us_news-life/

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tomchivers/100047527/atheists-and-agnostics-more-knowledgeable-about-religion-than-the-religious/

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/28/dont-know-much-about-religion-youre-not-alone-study-finds/

Video: Steve Harvey Talks With J. Behar About Atheists

Steve Harvey discusses his feelings about atheists with Joy Behar


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s59zZ7qxpkg

Video Found Of Humanist Slamming Steve Harvey’s Comments at AAI 2009

Video footage has surfaced of Humanist Dr. Sikivu Hutchison once again slamming Comedian Steve Harvey’s derogatory comments towards atheists. Dr. Hutchinson has had Harvey in her sights before, this is not new. Recently an organization she founded in Los Angeles, The Black Skeptics Group, targeted Harvey in a promotional ad. It is not known yet if Steve Harvey has reacted to Hutchinson’s attacks.

What sets these shots apart is they were delivered at the Atheist Alliance International 2009 Fall convention.
       

The Black Skeptics Group meets in Los Angeles to provide all races of people (though dedicated to African Americans) with an outlet to express their religious stories and questions. The Group is planning an event of its own: Going Godless In The Black Community (An Open Dialogue On Living Morally And Happily Without Religion) on November 7 in Los Angeles, Ca.

blackskeptics.org

Sikivu Hutchinson, Richard Dawkins, Anthony Pinn To Discuss Faith In the Black Community

Black Skeptics Group founder Dr. Sikivu Hutchinson will be participating in the event Dialogue of Reason: Science and Faith in the Black Community on  Sept. 28 in Washington, DC.

Hutchinson along with famed evolutionary biologist,  author & Professor Emeritus Richard Dawkins of Oxford University, Anthony Pinn and others will meet at Howard to discuss the issues surrounding science within the Black Community as well as the impediments imposed by superstition and religious dogma. The public event is hosted by the Department of Physiology & Biophysics of Howard University, The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, the Secular Students of Howard University, The James Randi Foundation, Center for Inquiry – On Campus, Black Atheists of America as well as other local and national secular groups.

Dawkins & Bill Maher at AAI 2009 Convention

Dr. Sikivu Hutchinson, noted author and activist: “The Black Church’s policing of the bodies and destinies of black women and the lives of gays and lesbians represents a bankrupt ‘morality’ which is just as pernicious as that of the Religious Right… if being black and being Christian are synonymous, then being black, female and religious (whatever denomination) is practically compulsory. Insofar as atheism and humanism provide an implicit rejection of both black patriarchy and ‘authentic’ blackness, those who would dare to come out of the closet as atheists are potential race traitors.”

Hutchinson & Pinn at AAI 2009 Burbank, Ca

Professor Emeritus Richard Dawkins, Oxford University: “Science is for everybody. It is of course useful, and we can use it to solve humanity’s problems. But useful is not all that science is. Science is also beautiful, and its beauty, too, is for everybody. Science tells us the truth about reality, about the real universe which we all inhabit. There is a savage beauty in the cosmos, which dwarfs our petty human concerns and quarrels. Raising our sights to our telescopes’ far horizon, cosmology unites us in awe. At the same time evolution, the unifying theory of all biology, not only explains our very existence but teaches us we are all one family, all kin, regardless of race, with a shared ancestral heritage which binds us into hopes of a shared future.”

Professor Anthony Pinn, Religious Studies at Rice University: “This is an ideal time and this event is an important opportunity to stress the importance for African Americans to critically engage the world and, through reasonable means, assess the issues impinging upon quality of life for African Americans across the country.”

The Black Skeptics Group meets in Los Angeles to provide all races of people (though dedicated to African Americans) with an outlet to express their religious stories and questions. The Group is planning an event of its own: Going Godless In The Black Community on November 7 in Los Angeles, Ca.

FUNK OF GODS “P-Funky” Music Used In Promo Ad

The Black Skeptics Group of Los Angeles used music created by FUNK OF GODS in a promotional ad for an upcoming event. The music, which was produced by jefferyTV and performed by Gospeldelic Records, is inspired by the Funkadelic song Cosmic Slop. The tracks working title is Follow and Believe and is slated to be released as part of  The Atheist Destroyer Project.

Black Skeptics Group To Host L.A. Event

An Open Dialogue On Living Morally And Happily Without Religion
Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 1:00pm
Lucy Florence Coffee House
3351 W. 43rd Street
Los Angeles, CA

“A growing number of blacks are ‘going Godless.’ Steve Harvey says we have no morals, but what about the Catholic Church scandals, predator preachers and Koran-burning crazies? Come join the Black Skeptics Group at Lucy Florence coffehouse in Leimert Park on November 7th at 1:00 in a candid discussion about living happily and morally without religion.” -Dr. Sikivu Hutchinson

We are a group of people who meet in the Los Angeles area to discuss (not argue or debate) our experiences with religion and church as it relates to the black community (all are welcome). We are not here to convert anyone or change anyone’s views. We provide a place to exchange ideas and stories to those people who have questions but feel they cannot openly discuss their faith and belief without persecution.

http://blackskeptics.org/

FUNK OF GODS: Catholic Grace Funk

Unfinished Track:
Working Title: Catholic Grace Funk
Artist: FUNK OF GODS
The Atheist Destroyer Project

www.funkofgods.com
the FUNK of the GODS is FAITH