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Can we imagine a God who has no intention of ever punishing us - for anything? If so, what would be the point of having a God at all? let these be our questions for the day.
Here is a note I received as part of this ongoing dialogue...
Hello Neale...
It has been a true joy to read you posts over the last few weeks since I first discovered them here on Beliefnet. You can't know how important and influential your "conversations" have been in both my life and the life of my wife, April.
I came across your first book when I was 19 years old and had spent so much time searching for God but always winding up disappointed that I had largely written off the prospect of ever really having a true relationship with God. But, through your books, I was able to learn that when I asked questions of God, I could expect to get answers--though I should never presume to expect to know what those answers might be.
Your books have helped me to intitiate my own conversation with the Divine. What I have found is that God is perfectly (and universally) loving.
But all too many Christians and Muslims try to claim that the monopoly on God's love and affection is held by this or that race or religion or institution or government. How hypocritical is this?!
How can someone say with any credibility that the same god who "shows no partiality" and created ALL people (even our enemies) out of divine love actually blesses one group over another?
I think it's a form of tribal psychology, an "us versus them" mentality. By claiming that God is championing "our" way, we implicitly demonize our perceived opponents by painting them as not only our enemies, but God's as well. This seems to be a common pitfall for the self-righteous, to confuse "my will" with "THY will".
To me this is what was meant using God's name in vain. I believe that there is one God, which means that the same God that, through providence, guides America, guides the Middle East also. So, in some ways the U.S. national motto ('In God we trust') is right. We are just one of many nations under God.
As to your question: what does Allah want and require? I think the answer is, he wants what he has always wanted, no matter what his alias might be. He wants us love him and to love each other as reflections of his mysterious glory. He wants us to be honest, patient, and when given the choice, to embrace what is highest rather than what is lowest about ourselves. And, hardest of all, he wants us to realize that our capacity to create is far more impressive than our capacity to destroy.
Anyway, that's my opinion.
Before I go, let me just say it has been a real pleasure conversing with the guy who showed me how to converse with the Almighty. Many thanks!
Posted by: Russ | July 15, 2008 4:45 PM
Well, Russ, those are some interesting comments. But what do you say to this? The Bible tells us that Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except through me." Does that not pretty much tell us, in plain and simple words, that those who do not accept Christ as their Lord and Savior are going to Hell? Am I missing something here?
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Many beautiful postings here have said it very well -- so-called fundamentalists are suffering from a misunderstanding about how to be saved from a life of sin (misunderstanding).
Jesus was saying you can't experience your unity with God until you become conscious that you ARE with God. And how do you do that? Do what He did.
It doesn't matter if you know about Jesus or not. If you live the life He led, love the Way He loved, you "come to the Father" -- you experience "the Kingdom of heaven". No one can come to God without living a life of love. That's all He meant. He was poetic! "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me." Who is this "Me"? The man, Jesus? Of course not. "Me" in this statement refers to who He just told us He was -- "The Way, the Truth, and the Life." And the man, Jesus, was always a perfect role-model.
There is further misunderstanding in the belief that the man, Jesus, died for our sins, and that He somehow 'magically' absolves us, but only if we acknowledge our dependence on His absolution (and only His). No. He died BECAUSE of our sins (misunderstanding). And we are saved the instant we REALIZE any of our mistakes -- that we have acted out of fear instead of love in any given situation.
According to the story, Jesus had demonstrated enough power to certainly have avoided being crucified if He so chose. He didn't. He submitted to 'our' will -- the will of those who were afraid of Him and what He was teaching, and wanted to be rid of Him. Why would He do that? What did that prove?
First, it showed His love, even for those who misunderstood and hated Him -- the supreme act of love -- to lay down your life for a brother. But it also allowed Him to demonstrate the resurrection of His 'broken' body. Are there any other examples of this among religious figures? I don't know of any, but maybe that's because I was raised Christian. This may be the hardest thing for humans to accept -- that we, too, can do this. It's easier to make Jesus different from the rest of us -- a God, unlike ourselves. But He said we would do even greater things than He did because He was leaving, while we would carry on here on earth. That's a very promising, exciting statement.....
"Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven......"
Sherry Sword
http://www.sherrysword.com
Posted by: Sherry Sword | July 21, 2008 5:09 PM
You say that the Bible says: No one comes to the Father but by me. And, yes, it does, but our interpretation of that statement is everything. When Jesus used the word "me" it can be interpreted to me something akin to "being," "Beingness," or "I AM THAT I AM." If it is true that Jesus did nothing of his own initiative (John 5:19, and John 5:30) but only did as the Father initiated within and through him, then how is it possible that his instruction about the way to the Father would mean anything less. Jesus was not telling us that the way to the Father was through him, the person of Jesus, he was telling us that the way to the Father was through Beingness, that same Beingness that IS the Father, that same Beingness that initiated all of Jesus' activities, words, thoughts and emotions--that same Beingness who can do the same within each of us. I believe that this is also what he meant when he said, "...if you do it unto the least of these, you do it unto me" (Matt. 25:40). He meant that all is One Beingness. You cannot do for another person without affecting the deep spiritual Oneness that we all are. Yet, simultaneously, if we are affecting the spiritual Oneness that is the I AM THAT I AM, then that I AM is also affecting us. As Voltaire said in Candide, "...everything...without exception, helps us toward holiness." Everything that we do from the construct of the ego, or the part of us that believes itself separate from the Divine, is done in blindness, but the part of us that is the I AM THAT I AM, is constantly, often without our knowledge, tugging, pushing and pulling on that action, thought, belief or emotion to bring it to wholeness (holiness). And the way to the Father is just that, the path created within each of us, by the Father, for the Father, of the soul/Self in each of us that IS the Father.
Listen to Neale Donald Walsch on Authentic Living with Andrea Mathews at Voice America, the 7th Wave Network tomorrow, July 23, 2008, at 1 pm, PST, 4 pm, Eastern--and don't forget to call in with your questions.
Love to all,
Andrea
Posted by: Andrea | July 22, 2008 12:54 PM
There are two issues I want to comment on here: "Taking the Name of the Lord in vain," and "None come to the Father except through me."
I can tell you what the former actually means; it's not what most people think. In initiations into the mystery cult of the ancient Jews, and later in the knowledge transmitted by rabbi Yeshua, the Name of God was all-important. Yah-Weh is two syllables; the Hebrew letters that would translate to the English Y and W. The initiate focuses on his breathing while the Word or Holy Name (Y-W) is chanted in a silent whisper, mentally, synchronized to the breath. In this way, he calls to God, using His Name, and enters a trance-like state of prayer. This is similar to the breath mantra used in the yogic tradition of India. Abraham (A Brahman) taught this, as did Yeshua (Issa) who learned it in a Buddhist monastery in the Himalays he stayed at for five years in his twenties. Believe it or not, meditation on the breath mantra Y-W has been fundamental to Judaeo-Christian mysticism from the beginning. An initiate who learns to use the Name of the Lord (Holy Name, Word) and then does not honor it and practice it as the key to experiencing the Kingdom of Heaven Within, has taken the name "in vain," i.e., to no avail.
"None comes to the Father except through me" may or may not be a specific quote or an accurate translation, but regardless, Jesus was talking to his disciples and followers at that time. He was certain that no one else in that time and place could reveal the Kingdom of Heaven Within to those people; he was God-realized, a great spiritual master who had the power to impart knowledge of the divine, both by teaching mystic meditation methods and by his spiritual radiance. There is no reason to assume that He meant it to apply to everyone, world-wide, for all time.
Posted by: Joshua Clement Good | July 23, 2008 4:05 AM
Hi Joshua Clement Good,
Just wondering...where in the world did you learn all that about Jesus hangin' with the Buddhists and Abraham chnating mantras???
Posted by: Russ | July 23, 2008 10:27 AM
There is some justification for saying Goddammed, if I am skydiving and my chute does not open, I think thats the word I would use. It simply is a reaction to something, as extreme as this, you do not like. Fear of death staring you in the face is so real that a more rational expression does not occur to you. If circumstances are less extreme, and Goddammed is used, you basically do not even like the air you breath, you do not want the sun to come up, you hate gravity, you wish you were not born and so on, this is what it means if you utter I am Goddammed. If you wish someone else to be Goddammed, it suggest a refutation and could make thing worse for you. You use God's name in vain means not really understanding God, it only implies an unhappiness of the person swearing. A lot of people in Texas said: "Goddammed Dolly" I am sure. Odd thing to say if you think that God is not personal!
Posted by: langzaam | July 25, 2008 1:50 PM
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