God accepts us where we are.

Return of the Prodigal Son - Rembrandt

God accepts us where we are. God meets us where we are, not where others would have us be.  

It is said that God finds us.  We do not find God.  For most of us, we learn about God through our parents, teachers or religious institutions.  Depending into which culture we are born, we may learn about a God who is Christian or Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Shinto, and so on.   Considering all the variations that exist within each individual religious group, the different and conflicting interpretations of God are inevitable and not unexpected.  Then there are those who are born into families or countries where atheism exists in varying degrees.  But knowing about God is not the same as experiencing the Divine. There are many teachers among us who would have us believe that to experience our Creator we must first adopt the basic fundamentals of their beliefs through a series of initiations such as baptism or specific religious teachings. 

This begs the question, "does our experience of God depend on our particular belief or non-belief?"  If God does not play favourites and is the Creator of the world and we are part of that creation, is there anyone God would not find? 
 But now, for an even bigger question - one aimed at the suggestion that we must first adopt specific religious teachings to experience God.   Considering what we have learned in less than one hundred years about our ever expanding universe and the number of habitable planets within the cosmos, are we going to insist that each one would have God re-enact the same story that we have been taught, or are we prepared to accept that God is perfectly able to reveal himself to every creation in a uniquely different way? Remember, when God calls on you, it will be in a manner that is completely congruent to your nature; not in a way that would cause you fear or angst.  If we can accept that this Creator is beyond all earthly understanding, we can perhaps slowly let go of our insistence that God demands our obedience to strict rules and regulations.  God, as creator of this incredible cosmos and everything in it suggest, that our understanding of his unconditional love has no boundaries; in fact, that understanding is continuously expanding.  If we can accept that which is almost incomprehensible, it means that there is no place in this universe that is untouched by God’s presence and unconditional love. 

Leaving ourselves open to this possibility also means that we can not only get to experience a God who reaches beyond space and time, doctrine and dogma but can be heard, knocking on the door of our heart.   It is said by many mystics and Christian scriptures that God knew us before Creation (Proverbs 8:22-31).  It is perhaps only due to our ego that we have yet to find our real purpose and potential for greatness.  When we finally answer God’s call, we will rediscover that our Deity rests within our indestructible and eternal soul and is as close as our next heart beat. The Self that God created needs nothing.  It is forever complete, safe, loved and loving. It seeks to share rather than to get; to extend rather than project.  It has no needs and wants to join with others out of their mutual awareness of abundance. (A Course in Miracles)

But trusting in God’s unconditional love is not easy. To begin with, it is always easily pushed aside by our ego.  It has more to do with not knowing than with knowledge about God.  God operates in the present - in the here and now - not in the past and not in the future. The past and the future are simple illusions and are easily distorted by learned experiences of shame, guilt, and fear.  Perhaps the easiest way to rediscover our trust in God is to realize that he never left us (Hebrews 13:5).  “I will not leave you orphaned”  (John 14:15-21).  Just how close is God? This close:   ‘the life you live is not about you! The life you live is Christ experiencing himself through you’.   When we first begin to absorb this reality we will become conscious of it being transmitted to us through another person, nature, life and death experiences, scripture, an inspirational story, the birth of a child, a brilliant starry night or simply, an act of kindness received from or extended to, another.  There are unlimited ways that God reveals himself to us that convey his great unconditional love to us.
 
 It saddens me however to note that there are times when we convey God’s  love in very conditional ways.  This has caused and continues to cause much pain and suffering in the world.  Unfortunately, we will also often find this in places of worship, be it a temple, synagogue or church.

 How this got to be that way may be a mystery to some but it may have something to do with the ego.  Survey after survey indicates that 90 % or more people in the world believe in a single God, regardless of the Name that they use for that Deity.

  Thusly, I believe a good starting point for any religious institution would be to admit that we don’t know everything there is to know about God.   Only through prayer and dialogue with God can we bring his revelation and promise of salvation alive.    With the birth of every child, the growth of a new flower, dialogue with a stranger, the ongoing expanse of the universe, we are immediately engaged in God’s revelation in a new way, every day, and every moment.   

God accepts us unconditionally where we are, not where others would have us be.   

A New Creed

Sunrise from Space

A New Creed

We believe in a God who does not punish, reward, make demands or hand out favors.

We believe in a God who came to save ALL not just many.

We believe in a God who does not walk away from us when we ‘miss the mark’.

We believe in a God who does not measure our sins but desires to help us overcome them so that we may profit from them.

 

We believe in a God who came to earth so that we might live life to the full.

 

We believe in a God who does not speak of hell as a place of eternal punishment.

We believe in a God who will accompany comfort and heal us through valleys of pain, loss and suffering.

We believe in a God who descended to the dead to rescue us from the hell we experience on earth.

We believe in a God who does not condemn gays, transsexuals, or anyone else.

We believe in a God who will not rest until ALL are returned to his heavenly realm.

We believe in a God who accepts us as we are not as others would have us be.

We believe in a God whose final justice is based on restoration not punishment.

We believe in a God who has no need for fixed dogma or doctrine or any other human edicts that can stunt our spiritual growth or dependence on him.

We believe in a God who loves us unconditionally.

We believe in a God who created us as his original blessing, imperfect but with unlimited potential to love and be loved.

  

We believe in a God who suffered on the cross not to die for our sins but as the ultimate sign of his love.

We believe in a God whose revelation continues through his Son, creation, scripture and the hearts of humankind and can never be exhausted.

We believe in a God who did not found or require any religious institution with all its trappings but calls us to a way of life in equality with each other.

We believe in a God who did not command anyone to build a structure to house or confine his presence.

We believe in a God who is present in all matter and being throughout the universe.

We believe in a God who created the universe and ALL in it as a sacred image of his being.

We believe in a God whose fastness and love is beyond our comprehension.

We believe in a God who calls us to continuously grow and develop in our understanding of his love.

We believe in a God who engages with us in constant dialogue through heart and mind.

We believe in a God who resides deep within our conscience and thereby participates in our personal choices and decisions without further judgment. 

  

We believe in a God who laughs, enjoys humor, skips, and keeps us safely in the palm of his hand  

   

 *(or the reasons why we needed to leave the institutional church)


Update:  

Catholic Church and Intolerance

Recently a relatively well known, Canadian Catholic TV & Newspaper columnist, with strong fundamentalist views, triumphantly declared that, “once someone denies basic and absolute Catholic teaching they are no longer believing Catholics”. Furthermore, he added “for a Christian who refutes papal authority, the teachings of the magisterium and the integrity of the sacraments there is an obvious alternative. It’s called Protestantism". This exclusivist attitude may perhaps  serve Pope Benedict XVI who has expressed a preference for  a leaner, smaller, purer church dedicated to the observance of a strict orthodoxy, but it hardly addresses Catholics struggling with  Church teachings. 

More importantly we must now ask - does the Church belong only to the conservatives? And what of the millions of Catholics, who cannot for one or another reason, follow certain Church teachings. Where would you draw the line? How would anyone know? And, finally who would decide? Is church (community) only for those who claim they never deviate (or question) from church teachings?  (Without sin?)

It is estimated that almost 80% of Catholics believe the Church should allow Catholics to use birth control. Contraception is strictly prohibited by the Roman Catholic Church. Such acts are considered intrinsically disordered. Ultra orthodox groups within the Catholic Church believe that sexual activity not aimed at procreation is considered sinful and even evil.

Recent statistics reveal that a majority of Catholics would permit abortion in cases where the pregnancy was initiated through rape or incest. Yet, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that ending the life of a pre-embryo, embryo or fetus cannot be allowed, except in very rare cases where a life-saving operation on the woman results in the unintended death of the embryo or fetus.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that, a homosexual orientation is deliberately chosen. The church regards all homosexual behaviour to be intrinsically sinful, regardless of the degree of love and commitment within the relationship. It is estimated that some 10% of the population is gay. Six in ten Canadians (59%) oppose the Catholic Church and other religious groups issuing directives to politicians on how they should vote on such issues. One in ten Canadians who oppose gay marriage say that politicians should vote as religious leaders direct them.

Three-quarters (74%) of Canadians believe that interfaith dialogue would have a “positive impact” on their community. However, Catholic dogma still teaches ‘no salvation outside the Church’. Additional obstacles to true ecumenism were pronounced in 2000 through a new doctrine Dominus Jesus under Cardinal Ratzinger as he declared “the Catholic Church as the sole true Church of Christ“ and all other Christian churches to be deficient in Truth. At the same time the Roman Catholic Church has steadily refused to accept an official role in the World Council of Churches.

The Roman Catholic Church today comes down heavily on those that do not follow its teachings. The Code of Canon Law (1436.1) states, One who denies a truth which must be believed with divine and Catholic faith, or who calls it into doubt, or who totally repudiates the Christian faith, and does not retract it after having been warned, is to be punished as a heretic or an apostate with major excommunication. Under these terms opposition and any further discussion is quickly squelched.

Of course like any other Christian, Catholics are also sinners and thereby equally deserving of God’s salvation. The problem is how does one determine which teaching a ‘good’ Catholic fails to follow or accept? Surely the answer to that question can only be God. Once a religious institution decides that it has the exclusive power to determine ‘who is in and who is out’ it becomes a cult. Charles Kimball, author of When Religion Becomes Evil, identifies five warning signs of such corruption in religion.

1. Absolute Truth Claims

2. Blind Obedience

3. Establishing the "Ideal" Time

4. The End Justifies Any Means

5. Declaring Holy War

Recent statistics gathered by Ipso-Reid in 2006 suggest that there are more than just a few Catholics who simply cannot follow or agree on certain Church teachings.

• Eight in ten Canadians (81%) agree that “you don’t need to go to church to be a good Christian.”

• 70% of those who call themselves Christians agree that “my private beliefs about Christianity are more important than what is taught by any church.”

• Every-week church attendance in Canada in 1946 at 67% had dropped to 20% and is continuing to drop.

• Six in ten Canadians (59%) oppose the Catholic Church and other religious groups issuing directives to politicians on how they should vote on such issues.

Church attendance continues on a sharp decline. Only one in five attend a place of worship on a weekly basis. Another 13% attend about once a month, which represents only one-third of the population. Nineteen per cent go a few times a year, and 11% show up once a year or so. No wonder they're selling off churches. While the reasons for the decline vary belief in God (88%) has remained virtually unchanged in a century! These staggering statistics suggest what while people strongly belief in God they are still turning away from the institutional church. One can only conclude that there exists a serious unresolved problem between the two parties.

There is no absence in the Catholic Church today of growing fundamentalism, self-righteousness and exclusivism, along with an anti-Christian and militant attitude on question of human sexuality. The latter particularly as it affects abortion, homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Religious tolerance has clearly given way to name calling, angry accusations and even public excommunication. At the same time the Catholic Church remains in serious denial by refusing to address the endemic and systemic problems related to the ongoing sexual abuse crisis. Politically the Church refuses to acknowledge the relevant needs of the people it serves. While the “People of God” have spoken, the patriarchal Church remains silent in response; preferring monologue over true dialogue. In an effort to blame its problems on modernism, relativism and secularism the Church continues to block the progress and enthusiasm that was generated by Vatican II. Obviously there are many more issues that contribute to the current demise of the Catholic Church, but these can only be resolved with kindness, tolerance, and the love that God offers to ALL his people so that they may become ONE. Let’s thus begin with dropping a self-righteous attitude with the knowledge that God meets us where we are not were others would have us be.

Global Peace - religions and beliefs

Global peace today is threatened by many opposing world views frequently based on differing religious belief systems.  In reality this is a contradiction in terms since our common Creator certainly does not have any need to be defended.  God’s honour is not at stake.  The vastness of God cannot be contained in any one religion, dogma or doctrine  nor does God favour one religion over another.  God, who loves unconditionally, cannot withdraw his presence from those who oppose him or even deny him.    This same Creator cannot be offended by blasphemous words or images, nor does he call upon anyone to form armies to march on his behalf.  God does not call upon anyone to become his martyr or offer sacrifices in his name.  God just is . . . . .  as we are simply called to be.     

The following was written to a friend more than 10 years ago in response to his struggle with beliefs arising from other religions.

If we as Christians are genuinely interested in resolving our differences with other religions we need only do one simple thing. In fact it is so simple it will completely astound you. You will not have to introduce any new regulations or rules, you will not have to pay more taxes (in fact it will cost a great deal less), and you will not even have to join a new religion. You will not even have to move or say goodbye to the world and live on a remote mountain top. You need not wonder if I’m suggesting some kind of make belief world only inhabited by Pollyanna’s or do-gooders. Nor am I asking anyone to enter into some sort of dream or drug induced world where reality never takes place. Lastly it will not demand that anyone become holier than they all ready are. No saints need to apply! All it will take, are you ready for this, is for people to change their belief about religion and God!

All the world religions (including us Catholics) simply need to change our belief about our need to defend God! It is as simple as that – no more. You see dear friend, it is only our perception of the need to defend our faith that keeps us at odds with one another and subsequently causes so much pain and suffering here on earth. Every time we profess that we think we know God better than the next person, we cause the other person much sadness and pain. That pain if it is let to fester will eventually translate into fear and ultimately hatred. Do any of us, Muslim, Christian, Hindu or Jew, really believe God is asking of us to defend him from one another? If God is truly allowed to be the all powerful all loving God we would know that: Love does not need to be defended, because Love does not know attack!

The minute we think that our religion is the only one – we are in trouble. The minute we talk in terms of ‘we’ the good guys and ‘they’ the bad guys, we are in trouble. The minute we draw lines and separate ourselves from our neighbours because ‘we’re better’ or because we believe we ‘have the corner on the faith market’ we are in trouble. The minute we teach ‘who is going to heaven and who is going to hell’ we are in trouble. The minute we focus on the future or the past, instead of the present, we are in trouble. Mother Teresa said it best "we need to teach the Muslim to be a better Muslim, we need to teach the Jew to be a better Jew", and so on. This means we need to drop what or who we think God is for our religion and think more about what or who God is for all humankind!

So how can we begin to change our beliefs? Perhaps we should begin by accepting that God is much greater than any idea that we (past or present) might have of him. Perhaps we could begin by changing our beliefs about who God is for all humankind. Perhaps we should admit that there is not one religion that possesses all there is to know about God or the Truth. Perhaps we could begin by accepting that we need one another. Perhaps we could begin by trying to understand each other’s uniqueness rather than by any enforced (and unrealistic) similarities. Perhaps we could refuse to listen to voices which lead to greater disharmony and disunity. Perhaps we should begin by accepting that God is much greater than any idea that we (past or present) might have.

Lastly, if you want peace and harmony you have to want to work for it. It does not simply drop out of heaven. If you want to Love you have and draw on its Source – there we will find an unlimited supply of answers for all of the world’s problems.

Today many people from various nationalitiess work and share their gifts together in a multicultural village or society. This remarkable mix automatically introduces a variety of ancient religious beliefs and customs. Institutional religions now have face the problem of sharing their particular beliefs without prejudice or intolerance with people of different faiths. Unfortunately true ecumenism has not kept pace with the rapid growing mix of religions. Witness the confusion in many parts of our world. The need to redefine and learn how God relates to all humans inclusively rather than exclusively is no longer an option.

UPDATE: A related story about world peace appeared in The National Catholic Reporter, dated Jan. 10th, outlining Pope Benedicts fears concerning the rising anti-Christian tide in various parts of the world.

Fundamentalism

Religious fundamentalism involves above all else a desire for certainty and the power to enforce that certainty over others. Fundamentlists like order, conformity, and the absence of opposition, and they are willing to do battle royal to achieve this state of affairs in their culture.

Catholicism: The Original Fundamentalism

Catholicism has been engaged in something like a holy war for most of its history. Heretics abounded in the medieval period (Cathars, Waldensians, Free Spirits, etc.), and were invariably harshly dealt with by the Church authorities, who permitted no challenge whatsoever to their power base. (Catharism, or Albigensianism, which flourished in the south of France from the llth to the 14th centuries, even became the subject of a full-blown, and ultimately successful, crusade against its domain.) Then, in the early 16th century, the Reformation came on the scene, setting in motion a long-running conflict with the Protestant movement: a conflict which continues, if only rarely in violent form (as in Northern Ireland), into our own century. (Each side is still competing with the other for converts, with American Protestant evangelicalism latterly making inroads into traditional Catholic strongholds in South America.) The Reformation generated a Counter-Reformation on the part of Catholicism, which was reasonably successful in stemming the advance of Protestantism throughout Europe, and even winning back territory from Protestant control (France reverting to Catholicism after being on the brink of going Protestant, as a case in point). Having weathered the crisis, Catholicism consolidated its position as a major world religion with an aggressive recruiting policy and a practised ability to exercise tight control over the lifestyles of its adherents: 'Once a Catholic always a Catholic', as the popular saying goes.

Despite the development of Protestantism, Catholicism continues to regard itself as not just the only true Christianity, but the only true religion [Dominus Iesus- 2000]. Over the years it has amassed a battery of doctrines to reinforce its claims to this exalted status. Papal infallibility is a latter-day addition to its authority, although the Church hierarchy had never been in much doubt over the tightness of its actions before (as Jonathan Riley-Smith has drily noted, '[f]or most of its 2,000-year history the papacy has not been in the forefront of reform'). Vatican pronouncements are handed down as law, whether on the subject of contraception, [abortion], priestly celibacy, or women priests - to name some of the most contentious issues on its current agenda. While a certain amount of debate is permitted to take place on such topics, it's at a rarefied level in the hierarchy where the laity have little input and decisions tend towards the very conservative. Catholicism has a very strong sense of history, and is more concerned to preserve traditional authority than to respond to cultural change. Considerable pressure has been exerted over the issues mentioned above - contraception, priestly celibacy, women priests - but so far to little avail. As far as the hierarchy are concerned, these are matters of dogma on which only they have the right to pronounce, and they expect their pronouncements to be followed to the letter. Doctrine wins out over the social cost of the Church's ban on birth control in poorer areas of the world (South America, for example), even though the improvement in the quality of life that a change in policy would bring seems obvious to everyone except the Catholic authorities. Although Christian fundamentalism is traditionally associated with Protestantism, it's worth remembering that it has no monopoly on that attitude.

Here follow some other provocative insights from Stuart Sim from his book fundamentalistWorld.

• Religious fundamentalism's great selling point is that it provides a sense of security for believers in what has become an ever more disorienting world, but it does so at the expense of cultivating an intolerance of others which can have devastating effects on global politics.
  

  • The more militant religious fundamentalism becomes the more likely it is to create clashes between rival belief systems.
  • Christian doctrine notwithstanding, there will be little forgiveness of sins, if those sins concern the fundamentals of belief.
  • What fundamentalism involves above all else is a desire for certainty and for the power to enforce that certainty over others. Fundamentalists like order, conformity, and the absence of opposition, and they are willing to do battle royal to achieve this state of affairs in their culture.
    
  • what fundamentalist share is a burning conviction of the rightness of their beliefs and the necessity to impose them on the rest of us.

  
  

  
  

  • Once doctrine, always doctrine, is the immutable fundamentalist law; the script must be followed regardless of who suffers (it's their fault anyway).
    
    

    Fundamentalism by far is not the inclusive domain of some Catholics. It is also found in many sectors of our world religions, for example:
    

    Muslim Fundamentalism

    Muslim fundamentalism is an enormously simple, powerful, earthy, sometimes cruel, absorbing, socially fortifying movement, which gives a sense of direction and orientation to millions of men and women, many of whom live lives of bitter poverty and are subject to harsh oppression. It enables them to adjust to a new anonymous mass society by identifying with the old, long-established High Culture of their own faith, and explaining their own deprivation and humiliation as a punishment for having strayed from the true path, rather than a consequence of never having found it. – Ernest Gellner

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    

    JEWISH FUNDAMENTALISM

    It stresses the obligatory salvation of the Jews and their return to Israel as a precondition for the establishment of the Kingdom of God on the Davidic throne of Jerusalem. These events, foretold by the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel and the last book of the Christian Scriptures, Revelation, create a rigorous framework within which all fundamentalists can understand past and future history, not as a purposeless record, but as a statement of divine will and a preparation for His eventual triumph over the forces of the Antichrist in the coming conflict known as the Tribulation.

    This brief summary is by no means a complete history of religious fundamentalism. No religion is exempt according to Sim. Nor is fundamentalism restricted to religion. Stuart Sim's book also describes how fundamentalism impacts us through politics and the economy. This well researched book helps us to better understand and reject the negative forces often present in this violent world in which we live. It is no news to anyone that a widespread spiritual awakening is currently taking place - one that has two distinct aspects. On one side, we find a resurgence of religious fundamentalism that embraces a historic view derived from the Middle Ages - a literalist belief that proclaims this world to be the kingdom of a remote transcendent authoritarian father-God, alternately wrathful and beneficent . . . On the other side and in opposition to this view, we have the spiritually awakened and expanded perspective of the secular humanist who perceive an omnipresent, immanent Divine Presence of Creative Force existing within all creation, one that is benevolent, life enhancing and life sustaining. (Mind Before Matter)

    
    

    
    

    
    

Several Years ago I came across the brilliant little book 'Fundamentalistworld –The New Dark Age of Dogma', written by Stuart Sim, Icon Books, U.K., 2004. This thought provoking book provides an in-depth analysis on FUNDAMENTALISM and how it impacts our world politically and religiously. I sincerely hope it will cause readers to renew their personal convictions and beliefs against the Creator of all humankind – and thereby come to embrace and project a love that is totally unconditional and all inclusive.