This book helped many people to unmask spiritual traps in which they unconsciously fell, and not to search in religion an answer to their selfish and self-righteous motives. This book also unmasks various tricks by which many try make up a lack of real unselfish love towards other people. Although some traps are specific for certain religious movements, they could represent temptation for every man under the Sun. Belonging to a certain religion itself, cannot protect us from sin and errors. Everyone is responsible to keep his heart and steps honest. This book can help him to build fundamental spiritual maturity.

A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK:

In this chapter we shall see that a man is aroused by motives of behavior which are not useful to his well-being, and that the existence of such motives is inexplicable from the points of view of the theory of natural selection and evolution. By analyzing these motives we shall realize that they contain an element of deceit in its essence, i.e. that they do not have attributes of goodness, satisfaction, freedom, meaning etc. they allegedly express. Due to their irrationality, we shall call these motives sinful. One needs salvation from sin.

Then, we shall analyze why and how one determines oneself for particular principles of sin when their existence has no meaning whatsoever. We shall see that the root of all evil is pride, i.e. in man's irrational and completely senseless independence - "independence at all costs". A sin is the only and the highest thing a man can achieve without God. We shall see that a man, relying on his sinful nature, is faced three problems that cannot be solved: limited ideals, lack of will for salvation, and the inability to realize it. Limiting oneself by one's motives and one's experience, one simply does not know how, does not want to, and is not able to help oneself.

A man is inclined to search for salvation not only from sin, but also from its manifestations on the level of behavior and feelings. There is a need to define sin as a condition which is sinful by itself, in order to solve the problem of sin in its very root. That is why it is necessary to talk about a moral law which defines sin as its violation, and true love as its fulfillment.

Unable to justify one's sinful motives before one's own conscience in sensible way, one in temptation to lose sanity. Intellect is given to us so that we can comprehend the purpose of goodness in comparison with sin, and thus, by differentiating it from evil, to choose it by our free will. Contrary to sin, the true divine love is intellectually comprehensible because it itself is a sensible and useful response to the demands of Heaven, as well as to the needs of our fellow men. If sinful motives were intellectually justifiable, then they would not be sinful motives in the first place. That is why, when we choose sin, we are afraid to think because we are in danger to unmask our own motives as sinful and accordingly, we run away from wisdom to superficiality.

A man whose mind is limited by the experience of sin can neither understand nor desire a higher experience. In order to have a free will, one must first have a free mind. Jesus says: "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." (John 8:32) God discerns the character of his love for a man through his words - the Bible. By means of a versatile analysis we shall investigate whether the authority of biblical revelation justifies our confidence in it.

In this chapter we shall see how a wrong understanding of the attributes of man's fallen nature can suffocate man's need for God, and completely deny the significance of the biblical salvation plan. We shall also realize the four basic differences between the divine and the natural human righteousness.

Many try to get to know God, not through realization of the character of His love, but through some other "realizations" (by knowing God's name, experiences while praying, meditation, pictures or magic rituals). Such "revelations of God" are favorite, because they do not bind one morally; they do not make one aware of one's spiritual needs for reform of motives of his heart, and God's forgiveness of guilt. Only reasonable knowledge of God through the right idea about His character makes a man aware of his spiritual needs.

God is comprehended by reason, felt by feelings, chosen by will and lived by heart! However, many people try to comprehend God by feelings, to feel Him by reason, to choose Him by a sinful heart and to live Him by will. So they fall either to heavy discouragement or to various kinds of fanaticism.

As though, due to our sinfulness, we are burdened by selfish pleasures and other sinful deeds, we are, due to our guilt, also burdened by our good deeds. The biblical salvation plan wants to set us free from both kinds of burdens - both from our sinfulness and from our righteousness, and to give us freedom to love with true love. Through different religions and through all the times we see the eternal conflict between the fanatical religion which is a response to the fact that we are burdened, and a true religion which releases us from our burden.

A man is inclined, by abolishing the law as a criterion of divine righteousness, to declare his fanatical motives to be the motives of unselfish love and goodness. We shall analyze the difference between the motives of true love and the fanatical motives of a man's sinful nature. We shall realize that without a special God's intervention, a man is only able to be "good" out of guilt, fear, pride and sentimental feelings. We shall show how false teaching takes one away from God and makes him rely upon the fanatical motives of one's own righteousness.

If you are interested for this book, please send email to: kenicd@sprint.ca