Webster’s Dictionary defines “pamper” as: vt. 1) gratify to excess; glut; 2) to be overindulgent with; give in easily to the wishes of– SYN. INDULGE. Question: Do you know one human being that wouldn’t like to be pampered, if somehow she/he had the chance? I am certain there must be a few, but truthfully, I don’t know of any.
It is our human nature to desire an easy life in as many ways as possible. The reason is that it doesn’t take much, if any, effort. Should we give in to our desire to be pampered? The overwhelming answer would be yes. And why not? One would think only a deranged person would rather have and do things the hard way.
On the surface, it looks and feels great to be pampered. Most anything that is not easy takes some sort of effort or time to accomplish. Without consciously knowing it, effort could be one of the most disliked challenges of all–if it could be called that.
Nevertheless, there are several downsides concerning our love affair with wanting to be spoiled. We have physical bodies that are, for the most part, controlled by our minds. Think of the old saying, “If we don’t use it, we lose it.” I like this one better: “The less we use it, the faster we lose it.”
If we lived some 150 years ago, life was far from pampered. The only ones that were pampered—if even to a small degree, in comparison to what we are accustomed today—were the extremely rich and possibly babies. The easy life many of us are used to today didn’t happen overnight; it happened slowly and in an insidious way.
Modern technology and science have advanced considerably in the 20th century, and we enjoy the easy life they provide. After a very short time, we started to take it for granted, and never thought of it as being pampered; we expected it and called it normal.
Here is a partial list of normal stuff we take for granted that didn’t exist 100 to 150 years ago: No automobiles: We walked, got on a horse and buggy, rode a bicycle or stayed home; no telephones: We wrote letters if it was some distance, or traveled to deliver our message in person; no electricity: When it got dark, we would light our lamps or natural gas lights if we desired to be active beyond darkness; no radios, televisions, no recorded music—actually, nothing that required electricity; that list could be almost endless; no central automatic heat or air-conditioning. The wood or coal had to be transported by humans to the source of needed heat; cooking had to be done mostly outside unless one had a vented wood/coal stove in the kitchen; no electric washing machines: Clothes were washed by hand; no electric refrigerators, only iceboxes; no supermarkets, only mom and pop food stores. The only variety stores were the five-and-dime stores; no indoor plumbing: Outhouses were the norm; water had to be hauled from the well or the nearby creek; not many paved roads, just bumpy brick roads; no elevators: We walked the stairs. I don’t think there were buildings taller than 5 or 6 stories. I could just see grandma or grandpa walking the stairs; no snow plows if there was a heavy snow: Outdoor life came to a standstill until it started to melt. I could go on and on and on. I think you get the idea that we are pampered (spoiled) people, and we love it.
It is a great achievement how modern medicine, advanced surgery, and hygiene have almost doubled our lifespan. Many easy, time- and energy-saving gadgets, appliances, etc. have brought many detrimental sicknesses and diseases to accompany those extra years. In fact, the diseases we are confronted with now, as a result of straying from a natural lifestyle, are occurring also in the young and middle-aged population which didn’t exist years ago. I wrote on this subject fairly extensively in another post; therefore, I won’t elaborate.
Farming used to be all natural (no pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizer, and no synthetic hormones or antibiotics in our commercial meat supply). That is just one part of unnatural living, because it is easier to spray some of the above chemicals than to haul tons and tons of manures or compost, and inject other chemicals in animals to increase production of meat or milk. Even smart farmers like to be pampered. There literally isn’t any food one can buy–organic or commercial–that isn’t somehow contaminated with this toxic stuff. It is in the air just floating around and in the form of acid rain. We are paying the price when these toxic substances and heavy metals lodge themselves in our bodies and cause all sorts of illnesses. The detrimental effects of a better life would not be recognized and become apparent for some time.
An even more serious consequence of having life easy is the lack of natural, work-type exercise. A few of us attempt to make up for it by working out in the gym, biking, walking, swimming, etc. That may help some, but it can’t duplicate natural everyday physical work. Another detrimental thing: We don’t do enough sweating. Sweating is one of the human body's best ways of detoxifying itself. Nowadays, many of us live in air-conditioned (AC) homes; from there, we get into an AC motor vehicle, and from there an AC workplace or some other AC place. Sweating, most of the time, is not very nice and usually requires some sort of effort, unless one is taking a steam bath or boiling in a hot tub. In fact, the more body odor we emit, the more toxins are stored in our bodies that are not able to be released. Want proof? Email me. I guarantee you won’t hear much about body odor—that is what cover-up perfumes are for—just because we don’t want to hear about it. We want life easy.
Actually, volumes can be—and have been—written on this subject of easy-does-it health issues. Nevertheless, we humans, in general, love to eat too much of the wrong food and have life easy, regardless of how much we know about the good, the bad, and the deadly. Yes, some will call it downright laziness; I know “lazy” is a dirty word to most, but the truth is, laziness may be the foundation of wanting an easy life–check out any large supermarket or department store parking lot; where are most of the vehicles parked—near or far away from the entrance? That in itself tells you how lazy most of us are. Wanting to be pampered is intrinsically in our genes, and only people with super willpower, coupled with the knowledge of the damage a pampered life can lead to, can fight our natural tendency of wanting to be parking lot, etc., slackers.
Since this blog specializes in exposing religion’s crimes against God, let me end with why organized religion had to go with the flow by offering a pleasant and easy form of Christianity. There is not one verse in all of Scripture that says genuine Christianity will be easy for the followers of Jesus Christ. To the contrary, there are many verses that tell of the difficulties of living the Christian life: 1st Peter 4:18. “If it is HARD for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and sinners?” Mark 10:24. “The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, ‘Children, how HARD it is to enter the kingdom of heaven.’” [emphasis added].
Also, there is a multitude of verses in the New Testament that tell of how Christians will be hated and persecuted and of the hardships. I will only give three. Matthew 10:22-23. “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another.” [We are not to fight back.] Tell that to George Bush. Matthew 5:11. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” Acts 14:22. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. . ." If the Bible is correct, and it is, the above type of life won’t be easy. When people are hated and persecuted, it doesn’t sound like they are living an easy life. Therefore, religion avoids it. Mainstream Christianity is basically a “people-pleaser” type of religion, concerned with continually tickling the ears of its adherents in religious ways.
If any segment of organized Christianity preached the above message as to what to expect as a Christian, what do you think would happen to them? Those churches would be empty in no time. Nearly no one desires to hear about doing anything that is difficult or time-consuming. As I have mentioned many times, the easier and more attractive a church makes their form of “christianity,” the more popular it will be.
The laity is so accustomed to going to church on Sunday; once there, they sing a song, say a prayer, give their 10% bribe money—what most churches feel is only fair—listen to a feel-good sermon, give their farewell greetings to each other and then be on their way until next Sunday. One more thing: Make sure to pray and be good until next Sunday. That is, for the most part, what modern “easy-does-it” Christianity is all about.
The old slogan P.T. Barnum, circus operator, coined years ago, “There’s a sucker born every minute,” also applies to the religious circus. Most traditional Christian religions love to have people attend their churches who are ignorant of what the COMPLETE New Testament message is about. For that reason, I have made great efforts in this blog to somehow get people who are interested in spiritual matters to get into the New Testament and see if what is proclaimed in this blog is the truth.
Just make sure you are not one of those suckers born every minute, giving your hard-earned money, precious time and exclusive devotion to some slick, holier-than-thou, religious con artist. Most are legal racketeers, hiding behind their holiness, while being sanctioned by the IRS; they clearly get their extortion message across in a sly and subtle way; when one reads between the lines, it says: “Give or burn in hell.” Their ploy is, as 2nd Corinthians 9:7 states, “God loves a cheerful giver.” I ask, give to whom? The answer is in that same chapter, 9:1. “There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the SAINTS.” (followers of Christ). And verse 12. “This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of GOD’S PEOPLE but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.” Therefore, if we can afford to give generously, and most of us can, let's obey that Scripture and help other Christians in dire need.
Religious leaders have a job to do, and that is to somehow convince you and me to give them our money, regardless of whatever trickery is needed. And one of their most successful tricks is to pervert the Gospel truth by not telling us the whole truth, but only preaching the easy, feel-good parts. The clergy, like P.T. Barnum, knows our greatest weakness. We silently say: Make it easy, make it fun, spoil us, just make it feel good; we want to be pampered.
If you desire to learn of more gimmicks that are used to suck us into their churches, I have already mentioned many in previous posts. Click on # 136. It is just one of them, but caution is needed, and should not be read by religious people with a weak stomach; it is that shocking.
For those of you who are intimately familiar with the New Testament, PLEASE, if you find anything in this post that goes against what God’s purpose is for genuine Christians, let me know by sending a comment or email. I still have much to learn, and most likely, you can teach me. But, it will carry more weight if it comes from the New Testament; that holy book is my touchstone.
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