Jesus Christ & Ayn Rand: Brother & Sister

It is far too easy (intellectually lazy) to conclude that Jesus Christ and Ayn Rand are miles apart in what they teach. Nothing is further from the truth. It is only necessary to juxtapose the words of Ayn Rand with the words of Jesus to see they teach exactly the same.

Ayn Rand summarizes her teaching this way:

"My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute."
— Ayn Rand, Appendix to Atlas Shrugged

Let's look at the words of Jesus Christ regarding these four elements: 1. heroic being, 2. happiness as purpose, 3. productiveness, and 4. reason as absolute.

Let's start with the idea that man must choose to be a heroic being. Here is how Jesus Christ says it:

Be not content with littleness, but be sure you understand what littleness is, and why you could never BE content with it. Littleness is the offering you gave YOURSELF. You offered this in place of magnitude, AND ACCEPTED IT.

But what you do not realize, each time you choose, is that your choice is your evaluation OF YOURSELF. Choose littleness, and you will NOT have peace, for you will have judged yourself UNWORTHY of it. And whatever you offer as a substitute, is much too poor a gift to satisfy you. It is essential that you accept the fact, and accept it gladly, that there is NO form of littleness that can EVER content you. You are free to try as many as you wish, but all you will be doing is to delay your home-coming. For you will be content ONLY in magnitude, which IS your home. (A Course in Miracles: Text Chap. 15 "Littleness vs. Magnitude")

What about happiness as the moral purpose of man's life? Here is what Jesus Christ teaches:

You have surely noticed an emphasis throughout our recent lessons on the connection between fulfilling your function and achieving happiness. This is because you do not really see the connection. Yet there is more than just a connection between them; they are the same. Their forms are different, but their content is completely one. (A Course in Miracles: Workbook Lesson 66 "My happiness and my function are one.")

Jesus Christ affirms man's productive nature in every aspect:

No one can suffer loss unless it be his own decision. No one suffers pain except his choice elects this state for him. No one can grieve nor fear nor think him sick unless these are the outcomes that he wants. And no one dies without his own consent. Nothing occurs but represents your wish, and nothing is omitted that you choose. Here is your world, complete in all details. Here is its whole reality for you. (A Course in Miracles: Workbook Lesson 152 "The power of decision is my own.")

Jesus Christ teaches that reality is the only absolute and reason the only way to know what is real. Here is how Jesus states it:

Reason cannot see sin, but CAN see errors, and leads to their correction. It does not value them, but their correction. But reason will also tell you when you think you sin you call for help, but if you will not accept the help you call for, you will not believe that it is yours to GIVE. And so you will not give it, thus MAINTAINING the belief (in sin). For uncorrected error of any kind deceives you about the power that is in you, to MAKE correction. (A Course in Miracles: Text Chap. 21 "Reason vs. Madness")

Certainly many Objectivists will scramble to find seeming differences between the teachings of Ayn Rand and Jesus Christ, as will many Christians. But what if seeming differences are just what the word "seeming" implies ... illusions dependent on one's interpretation which is in turn based on a very limited point of view from one's past learning?

If you are a Christian, maybe it would serve you to open your mind regarding the fundamental source of Ayn Rand's philosophy. If you are an Objectivist, maybe you would benefit from expanding your viewpoint to see not the way you've been led to believe Jesus sees but the way Jesus really sees.



Is America now a fascist state?

fas-cism
noun
a socialist governmental system led by a dominant party which seeks to control industry and commerce, and uses legislation and governmental decree to force Utopian programs on people.

free-dom
noun
one's natural state of being; a governmental system reflecting one's natural state, including voluntary funding and voluntary willingness to join and cooperate with some rules, but with no restrictions forced on people.

If you are just waking up to your innate libertarian side and want to investigate deeper the underlying nonsense of Obama's religion of government worship, give yourself the pleasure of reading Ayn Rand's epic and masterful novel, Atlas Shrugged

"God's laws will keep your minds at peace, because peace IS His Will, and His laws are established to uphold it. His are the laws of freedom, but yours are the laws of bondage. Since freedom and bondage are irreconcilable, their laws CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD TOGETHER. The laws of God work only for your good, and there ARE no other laws beside His. Everything else is merely lawLESS, and therefore chaotic." -Jesus Christ in A Course in Miracles


For the last election year studied (1998) some of the highest percentage of votes for Libertarian Party candidates were for candidates who had been studying free of charge the lessons of: Course in Political Miracles

For a great discussion on Christianity vs. State Socialism see: Christianity vs. State Socialism



“I did not understand what made me free, nor what my freedom is, nor where to look to find it. Father, I have searched in vain until I heard Your Voice directing me. Now I would guide myself no more. For I have neither made nor understood the way to find my freedom. But I trust in You. You Who endowed me with my freedom as Your holy Son will not be lost to me. Your Voice directs me." (Prayer from A Course in Miracles)

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