... in response to A disbelief in God , posted by Craig on Jul 10, 2004God is a loaded word.What it means to many of us might be different from you.Most would probably say they believe in God,at least in a higher power or consciousness.
I personally started out as a catholic but dumped it at 21 but really dumped it long before that because I never believed it really,maybe as a kid I bought it.
I was so offended by ideas of hell and damnation,and judgemente. The catholic church adds things like no birth control,or the popes method,abstinance which has populated much of the world with children not cared for.There to me seemed so much bullsh!t in religion that I became briefly an atheist.I remember reading how Madelin Murray O'Hare read the bible one weekend out of boredom and said "they believe this?" my reaction too.But she carried hers to the extreme opposing lots of things and was extremely bitter to the end.That was an uneccesary overeaction,even if I can understand it.
I soon became an adnostic,who really knows,but as a student of history I could see a positive direction of human events and thought ignorance caused most problems and people underneath were really basically good,as Abraham Maslow decided one day.He held his little baby daughter up and looked at her and said no,I don't believe people are basically bad,even though its possible to become so.
But certain experiences of a sort of guidance and a feeling of being somehow aasisted had me thinking.Then I read "life after life" by Raymond Moody.It wasn't about anybody trying to figure it out but a report of peoples experiences,strikingly similar and positive.The high point being meetuing a "being of light"interpreted by many to be her god of their choice,This being was totally loving and non judgemental,being in the precense of it was described as the most wonderfull experience.This absolutely the other side of the coin from old testiment and other old religious stuff that believes in the devil,hell and a god that directed of directs people to kill people,including their children.What utter nonsense to me.I thought yes,this is what a loving god would be like.Yes this fits,the other does not.
So I will tell you I believe in god,but I don't mean an old white haired man in the sky willing to send you to hell if you don't agree with some particular belief or participate in some sort of getting saved ritual.Not an "El Senior".I Don't buy it.You can if you want.Religious nonsense persists even today but religion in general has evolved to where mostly you don't get tortured or killed for not complying,and the more loving positive aspects are stressed and the old devil and send you to eternal fire is downplayed,sometimes to the point of saying it was never taught,which is a lie.So religion can be a positive influence.I know people who will make the case religion has been a very negative influence,and there is truth in it,but it has evolved to a
move loving,more CONSCIOUS level,in my opionion.
And Jesus.The most misunderstood MAN in history,in my opinion.He said things like "even greater things than these you can do".He spoke in parables because the ignorance of the time could not handle the truth.People choose to belive the only son of god vs a son of god,a part of god he discovered he was.So we have god one,big god who would send you to hell,who we are somehow saved from original sin we inherited by Jesus,god two,if we will acknowledge we need him to save us and usually pay homage to all kinds of other nonsense from the old testiment.People have a need for meaning.A story has been woven that sells gives them something to belive in,with all kinds of stuff thrown in.It has been called a crutch and it may be to some.People who need certainty on a subject no human being can be certain of.
So my god is not a white man or a judgemental grand pupperteer in the sky.I saw Billy Graham asked how God could allow the Oklahoma city bombing and deaths.He said he didn't know.Thats a tough question if you think everything is the direct will of god.The answer I think lies in a different view of god,one that loves and supports us in our progress here in a place we are for our growth as spiritual beings,a place where bad stuff happens and ignorant people do bad things.Its part of the lesson.If it was all great it would not be a lesson.
So if we are going to get off subject there is my version.
But I will not shove it down your throat,or insist that I or my church knows much better and you are very wrong.Its a personal thing,NO Human Being knows for sure.But I will bet god is closer to pure love than being ANY kind of judgemental being.
Pete
