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| INRI Paris. Copyright 2004. |
They believe that their message - filled with hate, fear and threats - is affirmed and supported by God Himself because it's written right there in the pages of the Bible in black and white. Apparently the God they believe in condemns, punishes, judges, name-calls, shames, blames, threatens and even kills in the name of righteous indignation, and gives them permission to do the same. (As far as I know, they haven't directly killed anyone yet they strongly and openly support the death of those they condemn.)
This family - under the strong will and loud, demanding voice of their dad - view themselves as devout Christians following the Word and call of God. They believe it is their duty to preach God's truth to the people of this Nation, and apparently they are the only ones who really know what God's truth is, as written in the Bible and interpreted by their dad... as if God Himself hand-selected dear old dad for this hate-filled mission. In their view, the rest of us Americans - including other devout Christians and religious scholars - are blindly missing God's point and they are the only ones who get it...
I was raised Catholic with a Christian foundation. I no longer practice Catholicism because I found it lacking. But through the Catholic tradition, I learned about ceremony, ritual and faith. I learned about Jesus and "God" and love. I still don't understand the many contradictions I recognize in the way Catholicism is generally taught and practiced yet I respect those who find peace there, just as I respect other teachings and traditions that folks believe in. Who am I to suppose that my beliefs are the only correct ones in the world or that my God is the only and right God?
I recognize that there are people in the world who feel with all their hearts that the beliefs they've spent a lifetime living by are the right ones. Yet which belief system, which tradition in the world is really "the right one?" Can there be only one right one? And how would we know it; how would we distinguish it from the others? They all have ancient texts and teachings that have been passed down through generations of change and translation. And with so many different cultures out there, why would there be only one way to honor and align with our Divine Source? If we believe that there is one supreme God and that we are all born of this God, is it true that all roads really do lead to this One God?
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| Black Cross. Copyright 2009. |
Today my beliefs rest in the notion of an All-Loving, All-Knowing (Omniscient), All-Powerful (Omnipotent) and Infinite (Omnipresent) God. To me, condemnation, separation, punishment, judgement, slander, shame, blame, hate, fear and threats are not a part of such a God. The way I understand it, we are created in God's likeness and image, not the other way around. To impose the limitations of humanity on an All-Loving, Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent Being is merely human error-thinking based in limited ego-mind.
Thinking about God is different from feeling into God. For when we think about God, all we find is the limited perspective and fears of our own human ego-mind; yet when we feel into God, we find the perfection of pure love that resides in an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, infinite presence.
My wish for today is that every Human Being feel their heart filled with the Grace of God as pure, divine love.
Thought provoking ...
ReplyDeleteMaybe all the religions who believe they have it "right" are just a reflection of the people, who believe they are "right." The topic about which they are "right" may not even matter. It's a way of saying my perspective, my perception, is "the truth" and yours is not. Humans seem to place a lot of merit upon their opinions and perceptions, to the exclusion of others.
Seems like Ruiz wrote something about this in the 5th agreement - that there is no real "truth" in this place; everyone has their own, which is based upon their particular perception, in turn is based upon their perspective. Your "truth" is not mine unless we both agree. A tough concept to grasp.
Your example is a good one of how religion is often used not as a means of finding the "truth" -- that is, what we have in common and agree upon -- but to find the places where we are different and disagree, and using them as as a reason to judge, to create separation. The group has been so successful at this that they are separate from everyone but their immediate family.
If they were "right," if they really had discovered "the truth" you would expect it to have created tremendous peace and tranquility for them. Since it has clearly created the opposite, perhaps this is the best indication of whether they, or really any of us, can be "right."