I remember going to
Sunday school as a child and singing great
hymns like "Jesus Loves Me" and "This Is My
Father's World." Then we went upstairs for
the church service and heard hideous
scripture
readings about a
fearsome God and lakes of fire for the
unbelieving and unrepentant. Even at that
young age, I remember thinking, "Is this the
same guy we were singing about downstairs?"
I discuss the nature of
God since human beliefs about this
phenomenon vary widely. Much collective
evidence indicates that God is not a big
bearded man sitting on a throne in the sky
somewhere. Humanity's spiritual growth has
suffered for too long by making God in our
image instead of realizing we were made in
God's image as beings of Spirit. In
theology school, God was defined as the
highest power of which we can conceive. The
greatest image of God is that of love,
peace, justice, energy, beauty, wisdom,
power--the Life Force behind all
creation.
The following
description of God is the most pure and
beautiful I have ever heard. In "Destiny of
Souls", Michael Newton, Ph.D., quotes a
female client who was one of the most
advanced souls he ever interviewed
during a spiritual
regression. She described Oneness, the
Presence as: ". . . it is . . . massive, but
soft . . . powerful . . . yet gentle. There
is a breath . . . a whisper
. . . of sound . . . so
pure . . . the sound creates all . . .
including light and energy . . . the sound
holds this structure . . . and makes it move
. . . shifting and undulating . . . creating
everything. It is a reverberating bell . .
. then a high-pitched pure humming . . .
like an echo of . . . A mother . . . full of
love . . . singing to her child."
These descriptions of
God are, needless to say, quite different
from those that many of us were taught at an
early age. Do the words 'wrathful, judging,
and fearsome'
sound familiar? Some
denominations still teach about a God of
unfathomable love and then, in the next
instant, warn that this same God will send
us to, or allow us to choose, a fiery hell
for eternity. Can you say
'schizophrenia'?
We need to reconsider
our notions about God, to refute half-truths
and mistruths that we were taught in the
guise of truth. Many people were brought up
with the notion of a vengeful God who
watches our every step, ready to smite us at
the least transgression. These teachings
were
the result of archaic
patriarchal and fear-based
misunderstandings, numerous changes, and
political expediencies.
More about religious
and spiritual input later. Suffice to say
that many of these wisdom sources believe in
universal salvation, an eventual heavenly
outcome for all. Many sources also refute
any notion of an eternal fiery hell.
Finally, they posit a God of unfathomable
love who, like the father of the prodigal
son, always
stands ready to welcome
us Home.
excerpts from the book
"Soul Proof" by Dr. Mark Pitstick)
