Let’s exonerate Pope Benedict XVI

Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that hateful, hurtful, homophobic speech by a church that oddly enough calls itself “Christian” is protected as a First Amendment right seems to have eclipsed other really big church news: Pope Benedict XVI has exonerated Jews for Jesus’s death.

Pope Benedict's new book According to the Associated Press, the revelation was unveiled in excerpts from Benedict’s upcoming book, “Jesus of Nazareth-Part II.” If this declaration had been reported by The Onion, rather than the AP, I would be able to wrap my head around it. But this was not satire; it was just…well, sad.

Reportedly, the Pope’s new book explains biblically and theologically why there is no basis for “claims that the Jewish people as a whole were responsible for Jesus’ death.” Wait a minute!

As a whole? Hmmm, is that like: Saudis, “as a whole,” were not responsible for the September 11 terrorist attacks? (Fifteen of the 19 suicide terrorists were Saudis.) Or is more akin to: Iraqis, “as a whole,” were not responsible for 9/11? (Not even one terrorist was Iraqi.) There’s a big difference.

Methinks the Pope hath forgiven too much; he has actually perpetuated the un-Christlike myth that the Jewish people killed Jesus. Anyone who’s read the New Testament or has seen a movie about the crucifixion knows that the Jews did not commit the crime, just as the Iraqis had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. By dismissing the facts, the Pope’s grandiose forgiveness of the Jews is as much an attack on an innocent people as America’s violent invasion of Iraq to “free” its people.

Centuries before Benedict put pen to paper, it was an indisputable fact that the rabbi we know as Jesus was tried in a Roman court and suffered an inhumane execution at the hands of Roman military torturers because the declaration that he was the King of the Jews was a threat to the Roman empire.

So why isn’t the Pope forgiving, oh I don’t know, the Romans who conveniently live in the city surrounding his walled compound? That loving gesture would be such a warm and fuzzy highlight to this year’s Lenten season. Forgiving the innocent, not so much.

But here’s the beauty of his declaration of forgiveness: What Benedict unwittingly has highlighted are the impossible-to-connect dots that form the foundation of our beliefs as Christians—and the gaps that simply cannot support us, except through blind unquestioning faith: Connect the Dots puzzle

Dot #1: Jesus’s life purpose. For centuries, the Church has taught that God sent Jesus to Earth to do a couple of really important things. One was to spread the good news that God is Love, and does not do things that Love would not do—i.e., is not intolerant, violent, punitive, unforgiving, condemning and judgmental. Jesus also taught that the kingdom of God is within. We don’t have to go anywhere to find God, and we are not an abomination, filthy rags or unacceptable to be in God’s presence. Wherever we are, God is—truly good news.

Dot #2: Jesus’s fulfillment of his mission. What theologians tell us is that Jesus’s Good News ministry lasted all of three years. With today’s technology and air travel, the good rabbi could have spread the word to everyone in the entire world in that time. But he didn’t get very far on foot and donkey before it was time to complete his other important task: Be brutally slaughtered for crimes that he didn’t commit.

Dot #3: Barbaric live sacrifice demonstrates God’s love. This is a critical dot. The premise here is that God loved us, His guilty children, so much that He sadistically forced our innocent brother to die a protracted and excruciatingly painful death so that we wouldn’t have to. Christians generally protest unfairness, particularly an innocent person being executed; but we’re glad as hell that it happened to Jesus because…

Dot #4: Jesus died to save us from eternal damnation. We Christians rejoice that we are “washed in the blood of Jesus,” a satanic concept, to be sure. But more damning, we believe that contrary to Jesus’s famous parable in which a faithful father excitedly rolled out the red carpet upon his sinning child’s return, God’s forgiveness has strings attached: Only sinners who believe that God inhumanely subjected Jesus to a slow and tortuous death will be spared worse treatment throughout all eternity.

Those who believe that God is Love—and believe that Love would not do something so barbaric and satanic—will regret that mistake throughout a God-awfully painful eternity. Which brings us to…

Dot #5: God’s orders should be obeyed. So many dots, so little time. Let me simply cut to the chase: If the Pope believes what Scripture tells us to believe, exonerating the Jews is utterly oxymoronic. What is he forgiving them for exactly: Following God’s orders?

And that, dear Thinkers, is the question of the day: If the Pope believes that God ordered Jesus to be brutally tortured to death, and he believes that the Jews obeyed, I’m wondering if Benedict couldn’t have exerted his authority as a spiritual leader more effectively by forgiving Christians for reviling the Jews for centuries.

In the interim, why don’t we simply exonerate the Pope?

Yoism is for Thinkers

I’d never heard the term “yoism”–and wasn’t sure what it was until I watched this hilarious performance from the Balcony of Life. See if Lewis Black’s common sense doesn’t make you ROTFL (roll on the floor laughing), too.

Caution: This is NOT for those who can’t laugh at themselves.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0gAcbAGPH4&feature=player_embedded]

God and Man in Tucson

British explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton once wrote: “The more I study religions, the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself.” Or, as my best friend in high school, now the Rev. Vici Derrick, chuckles, “God made man in His image—then man returned the favor.”

We live in a world in which humans have faithfully embraced ancient authors’ portrayals of God as an angry being who vindictively and violently killed humans to solve problems and silence dissent. Thousands of years later, we vigorously defend ancient scribes’ mandates to “put to death” humans who commit sins ranging from being impudent children to murdering a member of the human family.

A human—or a committee of them—declared everything the scribes wrote was the inspired “Word of God.” If we believe that, why are we shocked and repulsed by incidents such as the executions in Tucson and Pakistan? Why do we call these murders “brutal,” “demonic” and “senseless?” Why do we label the killers zealots, sociopaths and terrorists, if we really believe what we say we believe?

Holding us in Light

Tolerance and forgiveness are divine, not vindictiveness and violence. It is humans who are prone to respond with vitriol and violence. It is humans who must be taught to be civil and accepting of others. It is humans who must be encouraged to love. These virtues are not innate human characteristics.

Have we forgotten the barbaric times in which humans lived? Can we imagine how difficult it must have been for the ancients when they tried to describe God, tried to make sense of their dangerous world and bring some order to it, and when they tried to explain why natural disasters occur and how the world began?

The only context they had was human context. Man at that time solved problems through violence. They may have reasoned that if their world was dangerous and violent, that must be how God is—and how God planned it to be. Or perhaps to justify their behavior, they declared it godly: They were merely mimicking the Huge Human in the sky.

And so they passed down to us a who God is angry, volatile, vindictive, judgmental, violent and mostly unforgiving. They told us—and told us to tell others—that God ordered us to be angry, volatile, vindictive, violent and mostly unforgiving.

Have you ever taken time to count the multitude of reasons that the Word of God says that members of our human family “shall be put to death”? If our ancestors obeyed the word of God, the human race would have been extinct ages ago.

So why do millions of us still believe today that God’s response to human error is brutality: torturing innocent individuals to death so that the guilty could go free or bragging that He drowned “every living thing”? Why do we believe that God would accept an impotent demon’s challenge to inhumanely test a good man’s faith by killing all of his children, drying up his crops and making him suffer untold physical and emotional pain? Why do we believe that God will satanically torture us throughout all eternity for our indisputably finite period of human error? And why do we believe that if humans did any of these horrific things, it would be appalling, unacceptable, deranged—and criminal?

We don’t believe that it’s OK to kill politicians who disagree with us, whether it’s Tucson or Pakistan! Why is it OK, defensible—it’s even worthy to be praised when God commits these inhumane acts? Are we subconsciously holding God to a lower standard than ego-driven humans?

We are accountable for own our double standard. We can’t say that it’s unacceptable for humans to solve problems by killing people, while simultaneously proselytizing that God sinks to such a low, human, and sometimes demonic standard of behavior.

The irony is not lost on us that the youngest victim of the mass murder in Tucson reportedly was born on September 11, 2001—the day when other individuals chose to solve a problem with violence. What was the human response? Claim that God told us to solve that problem with violence. Throughout that child’s lifetime, we tried to solve the problem violently. We inspired support for the violence by fanning the flames of fear.

And how’d that work for us? How many lives did we save? How many families did we destroy? How many young men and women have suffered sustained mental and physical injury?

Historically, the toll for for miscasting God in our vindictive, violent image has been high. Blindly believing in the drama written by ancient scribes has actually breathed life into the demon they created. Every time we treat someone in ways that we would not want to be treated, we feed the demon and share responsibility for its continued destruction around the globe, in homes and parking lots, on city streets and rural countrysides.

Perhaps it’s time to stop worshipping our ego-driven human selves long enough to learn what the murderers and murdered are teaching us: Violence destroys; it is ungodly. True power and true victory come from living as if we were created in God’s true image—as the spirit of Unconditional Love and Forgiveness.

What happened to Jesus’s dash?

It’s been said that it’s not the dates of a person’s birth or death that are important; it’s the dash between the two: What did they do while they were on the planet?

As I witness the annual frenzy surrounding Jesus’s birth—weeks of preparations, billions spent on decorations, office parties, gifts, wrapping paper and bows—I can’t help but wonder: What happened to his dash?

Christmas Tree

Let’s not kid ourselves. Jesus is not the reason for this season. Nowhere in the scriptures is it said that Jesus was born on December 25.

What we do know is that it’s the same birthday as mythological gods and saviors who were born of virgin mothers. They all healed the sick, raised the dead, were brutally murdered at a young age by those who took issue with their talents and teachings, and were resurrected in three days.

We also know that pagans celebrated the all-important winter solstice at this time of year, with decorated trees and other vestiges of modern celebrations. In fact, these grand festivities posed the greatest hurdle for those who were trying to convert pagans to Christianity. The Jews had Hanukkah in December. The pagans had Solstice. The Christians had, well, nothing.

Wait! We can still have a party! How about if we call it Christmas?

Even if we don’t care to bone up on our ancient history or mythology, those who actually read the Bible know that there are conflicting narratives of Jesus’s birth. The Book of Luke, written by a gentile physician who wanted to convert gentiles to Christianity, claims that Jesus was born in a Bethlehem barn.

As the story goes, Jesus’s very pregnant mother’s husband, Joseph, made her ride 80 miles from their home in Nazareth on a donkey so that he could pay his taxes in Bethlehem. Why Bethlehem? Because Joseph was of the lineage of David, and Hebrew scriptures had prophesied that the savior would emerge from that lineage and that village. But Jesus’s father was Invisible Spirit, God; so what was Luke’s point, exactly?

The Book of Matthew, written by a Jew who wanted to convert Jews to Christianity, totally disagrees with Luke’s barn birth narrative. Matthew says that Jesus was born in Joseph and Mary’s Bethlehem home. It is to this home that the brilliant star guided three wise men.

Archeologists recently discovered homes in that region, built during that era. They looked more like little caves, and were very close to each other. That starlight was either laser-focused or the wise men knocked on several doors before finding the savior in Matthew’s story.

Creches tend to combine the conflicting birth stories

Either confusion or compromise has resulted in a plethora of manger scenes and school plays that include the wise men and the star. Heaven forbid that future generations would think that Jesus was born twice, in different parts of town.

Aside from agreeing that Jesus was crucified, the Bible’s death narratives are just as argumentative, which to this Christian lends credence to the claim that it’s really not the circumstances surrounding Jesus’s birth or death that matter, it’s his dash. Most Christians disagree, some more vehemently than others.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve been told that I’m not really Christian unless I believe Jesus’s birth narrative. Which one, exactly?

And, they say, I’m really not Christian unless I believe that only three years into Jesus’s “good news” ministry, God had him murdered in a manner that can only be described as satanic. Let me get this straight: Our Father is going to brutalize me eternally unless I believe that He inhumanely subjected the innocent Jesus to sadistic torture instead of me. Yes, they say, and if I was really a Christian, I’d be grateful.

I generally don’t celebrate when an innocent person is executed so that the guilty can go free. Instead, I celebrate a God that is bigger, better and less barbaric than portrayed by ancient scribes for whom live sacrifice was normal. I also celebrate Jesus’s dash, which overshadows the curious narratives about his birth and death.

During his dash, the religious rebel and rabbi Jesus taught us how to heal ourselves and our relationships. He taught us not to judge or condemn each other; he urged us to love our enemies and love ourselves. He taught us to forgive 70 times seven. He also taught that God is the unconditionally loving father of prodigal children who celebrates our return, even after an errant lifetime away from home. He taught that he is One with the Father, and we are One with him.

In our focus on Jesus’s beginning and end, we’ve given short shrift to the dash. In the dash, Jesus cautioned against putting new wine in old skins: Combining the ancients’ view of God as vengeful, punitive, angry, judgmental, distant, male, genocidal and hard-to-please with the “good news” that Our Father is spirit, is love, is forgiveness, is within. As a result , we’ve created a bi-polar God who loves us—but will satanically brutalize us if we don’t toe the line.

Many Christians I know believe that it’s not enough to live a life that emulates the lessons Jesus taught. Good people will be sent to hell and robbers, thieves and murders who confess with their mouths that they believe the birth and death narratives will be spared God’s horrific punishment.

Perpetrating beliefs such as that not only demonizes God; it dishonors the good news of Jesus’s wholly empowering dash.

If God cares…

Is it about the mistakes you make—or the lessons you learned?

Is it about how well you study a man-made book—or how committed you are to the Truth embedded in your spirit?

Is it about fulfilling the prayers from your mouth—or the wish list of your eternal soul?

Is it about whether your body is cloaked—or the love with which you cloak others?

Is it about the place you live—or the soul in which The Divine Spirit lives?

Is it whether you pass an exam, win a game or get a job—or that you fulfill the purpose for which your soul came to Earth?

Is it about your physical attraction to someone of the same or opposite sex—or your intimacy with the divine part of you?

Is it about your religion—the rules, regulations, readings, rituals, restrictions and ramifications that reflect what humans believe about God—or your direct, unfiltered, interactive relationship with The Divine?

Is it about punishing your enemies—or forgiving your desire to punish them?

Is it about whether you have physical companionship—or that you are fully aware that you are, were and never will be alone?

If God cares, is it about the same things you care about?

The Beginning of the End of Levitical Ignorance?

Here in the Balcony of Life, where we can see over the heads, behind the backs and beyond the wings of the daily drama that seems so real to the players, we often talk about Soul and Ego: Soul being that eternal part of us within which God resides, Ego being the mortal part, the personality and physical costume that are visible on planet Earth.

We also frequently discuss purpose: Why are our souls here, in this place, at this time? What unique thing did we come to do to facilitate the evolution of the planet and its consciousness—and how do our egos try to interfere with the fulfillment of the Soul’s desires?

Bishop Eddie Long

It’s with those questions in mind that we direct our attention to the stage on which the sexual abuse drama at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta is unfolding. If you entered the theater late, no problem, it’s very early in the first act.

You’ve only missed the part in which an anti-gay activist minister who counseled gay men and women in his 25,000-member congregation to “go straight,” became the defendant in two lawsuits claiming that he sexually abused teen boys. Within a couple of days, the number of lawsuits had doubled, and none of the plaintiffs withheld his name, choosing to be publicly scorned and permanently damaged personally and professionally, if they have filed false charges.

This is delectable fodder for the gawkers and gossips on the main floor of Earth’s theater. Up here in the balcony, where we can see the larger picture, the plot appears much deeper than that: Consider the possibility that the soul we physically recognize as Bishop Eddie Long has come here to jettison human consciousness above the level of Levitical ignorance.

The scribe of Leviticus had a particular hatred for those with same sex orientation. When the clergy at the Council of Nicea included the book of Leviticus’s hate-filled words in the anthology that they declared to be the Word of God, thy implanted the belief that homosexuality was a choice, that God considered it “an abomination,” and that those who engaged in same-sex relations “should be put to death.” We’ll love them anyway. That was 2,000 years ago; they didn’t know then what we know now.

In the centuries that followed, scientists discovered same sex orientation in the animal kingdom as well as in plant life. Choice? In addition to biological and botanical findings, genetics, meteorology, physics, geography, history, archeology, cartography, astronomy, other fields of study, and plain old common sense have proved that what the ancient scribes believed to be true simply isn’t. Claims that their works were inspired or dictated by God, who permeates every living thing, portrays God as ignorant rather than omniscient, and evolving rather than absolute.

We all have relatives, neighbors, dear friends, co-workers, bosses, students, teachers and other loved ones who are gay. If we’ve known them since childhood, we were aware that they were gay long before they knew what sex was. They taught us that gender preference is not a choice made on the physical level.

It amazes many learned Bible scholars, theologians and Thinkers that in the 21^st century, millions still believe that everything in the Bible is true—and will vehemently defend the book, rather than defending its sometimes disparaging portrayals of God. As retired Episcopalian bishop, best-selling author and Bible scholar John Shelby Spong concluded: Anyone who thinks that everything in the Bible is true simply hasn’t read it.

One of Bishop Spong’s bestsellers, Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible’s Texts of Hate to Reveal the Love of God, concluded something with even deeper relevance to our Atlanta-based drama: Paul of Tarsus, the man most responsible for the spread of Christianity, was gay. Bishop Spong was challenged on his theory by a very defensive fundamentalist host of a TV show. I thought the host was going to pop a blood vessel, he was so incensed by the thought that Paul could be gay.

Like Paul, there are those who presume that God “hates” certain aspects of “His” creation, and that if something or someone is different from the majority, they are unacceptable in “God’s sight” and should be chastised, ridiculed or even eliminated. For all we know, the writer of Leviticus might have been fighting his own demons, unwilling to accept himself and his natural attraction to those of the same sex. Or maybe it was run-of-the-mill bigotry, the unruly child of pure ignorance.

If Bishop Spong’s theory is correct, perhaps, like Paul, others have assuaged their own discomfort or hatred of themselves for being different. They controlled their natural attraction to the same sex by convincing themselves and others that God hated that behavior and would violently punish it. Perhaps they forgot that God is Love; Love does not hate, judge, punish or respond violently.

Perhaps 21 centuries is long enough. Maybe it’s time for this unloving behavior to end, time for us to evolve to a higher level, to align ourselves with divine consciousness, the Love Consciousness that is the real God. Maybe it’s time to put down the picket signs, stop condemning or trying to change those who are different, and accept each of us for who we are.

Maybe that’s the mighty job that Bishop Eddie Long’s soul bravely agreed to do on a very public stage. Time will tell, and we’ll all be blessed.

The deceiving power of perception

As I opened my email inbox several days ago, I realized that I was holding my breath. (You know you’re stressed when your breathing is shallow or you’re barely breathing at all.) When I saw that there were only 1,162 messages in there, I was actually relieved. That’s just sick.

Despite reading, deleting, and spam purging hundreds of messages from my inbox I couldn’t seem to whittle them down. I decided to spend all that day, if necessary, deleting everything superfluous, starting with the top six messages in my reading pane.

One click and they were gone—but wait! I had mistakenly clicked the “Select All” box!

That triggered a miracle: Within less than two hours, I had only 93 keepers in my inbox—and I had learned a huge lesson about the deceptive power of perception.

For months, I had held onto emails unless I had a good reason to delete them. But suddenly those same emails were looking at me from my trash can, forcing me to have a good reason to retrieve them. That shift in perception made a huge difference in my mailbox and my stress level.

This lesson can be applied in more evolutionary ways. For example, many of us are holding onto beliefs in our mental inboxes and haven’t taken time to closely examine or purge them. Someone “sent” us their beliefs, and without discerning them, we simply let them take up space. Our space.

Perhaps it’s easier to maintain a daunting pile of conflicting beliefs that we don’t understand and can’t explain than to pore through them, study or verify it. One thing for sure, we can’t truly believe something we don’t understand. At best, we can only believe that we believe it. That’s fulfilling.

I was lucky enough to have been encouraged from an early age to be a lifelong learner: to explore, to question and to grow. As a result, it’s become important and evolutionary for me to understand what I believe, and be conscious of the implications of what I believe.

Years ago, I discovered that many of the beliefs that had poured into my mental inbox were in serious conflict with each other. While I believed that God was Love, I also believed that He did things that were vengeful, judgmental, genocidal, violent, sadistic, inconsistent, mysterious and unforgiving. I came to understand that believing that God would do anything that Love would not do had serious implications: My beliefs actually denigrated God.

As a baptized Christian, I didn’t dare question what I’d been told to believe; in fact, I was discouraged from doing so—told that asking rational questions meant that I didn’t have faith. But as a human with God-given intellect, I couldn’t rationalize my failure to use my intelligence to inquire, explore, understand and thus build a closer relationship with my God. Building my relationship with God was more important than pleasing the humans who were judging me. I concluded:

When we think that it dishonors God when we question our beliefs—and that we will be punished for doing so—what we really believe is that God is controlling and dangerous.

Let’s be serious, who wants to be in a relationship with someone who is controlling and dangerous? Do we please God by ascribing to Him behaviors that are associated with sociopaths, dictators and mass murderers? Is torture or genocide wrong when a human does it, but divine when God does it? Does a father accused of dropping his kids off in an unknown part of town without telling them how to get home any different from accusations that God has created only path home but only told his Christian or Jewish or Muslim or Buddhist, etc. kids how to find it? Is that what we believe about God, or is it just another reflection of humans’ propensity for discriminating against or one-upping each other?

What will be our breaking point—that one thing that will make us resolve to clean out the confusion in our mental inboxes? Is our desire to build a close relationship with God resolute enough for us to click the “Select All” button and start from scratch? Are we ready to pore through the contents of our trash folder, carefully examine each belief message and retrieve only those that match—whether they portray God as totally heinous or totally loving. Are we willing to give ourselves permission to use our God-given intellect to examine, understand and embrace our beliefs so that we are not dismissing God as an inexplicable mystery? How can we have a loving relationship with an inexplicable mystery?

Our beliefs shouldn’t overwhelm or confuse us; they also shouldn’t be unmanageable. How can we experience the peace of mind, body and spirit that comes from being in the loving care of a Higher Power if we’re juggling wildly disparate beliefs, often contorting ourselves to keep all the balls in the air?

Every moment is pregnant with opportunities and possibilities. The opportunity that is available to us in this moment is either to choose peace—or hold our breaths and feel our hearts pound every time someone asks us to explain what we believe and why in heaven’s name do we believe it.

Declaring Freedom, Choosing Oppression

At this time every year, Americans celebrate our freedom from tyranny and oppression. What irony. We decry others’ extremist behaviors; but we can’t see how, in our individual interactions, we are also tyrants and oppressors.

We wonder how those whom we’ve labeled “terrorists” can claim that their actions honor God. But aren’t we doing the same? At every opportunity—at least once weekly, sometimes daily on Facebook or Twitter—we oppress and terrorize others, typically in forceful, angry and condescending tones. We are “saved” from God’s wrath, and they are not. They must do, say and believe what we want them to believe. Or else.

Terrorism, tyranny and religion thrive on threats of extreme punishment (satanic torture that lasts for an eternity) and extreme reward (eternal bliss with vestal virgins). Both rely on the premise that God solves problems through punishments that exceed any human crime: He sadistically hurts or destroys all or part of His creation through genocidal floods, filicide (feel free to consult an online dictionary), torture, natural disasters, plagues and curses. Fascinating stuff. It gives new definition to the word “divine.”

We kid ourselves when we claim to love a God who not only lacks compassion, but is extremely brutal to others in our human family. How do we react to such a sadistic God? Actually, our options are limited. We can:

Emulate this brutal behavior and call it “holy;”
Spread panic by warning everyone within earshot that God is going to heinously brutalize them forever unless they believe that He has heinously brutalized others;

In the case of those who call themselves Christians, there are other options: We can realize that God is not bi-polar. Love is not vengeful or inhumane. If God is Love, God does not do things that Love does not do.

We also can carefully read the accounts of ancient scribes. Retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong says that anyone who believes that everything in the Bible is true, simply hasn’t read it. Most quote the text that proves their point and discard text that contradicts it:

God could be in only one place at a time—in or out of the Garden of Eden—meaning that God is not omnipresent;
God didn’t know where Adam and Eve were when He returned to the Garden—meaning that God is not omniscient;
God gave some of His power to Satan—meaning that God is not omnipotent;
The number of animals who entered the ark, the number of days it rained, and the length of the stay on the ark constantly changed, sometimes in the same verse;
Jesus was born in a barn and in his parents’ home;
God is everywhere, but there’s only one path to get there—and other inconsistencies.

Let’s declare our independence from oppression and oppressing. Let’s unshackle ourselves from beliefs that denigrate God as an angry, vengeful and sadistic tyrant. Let’s celebrate our freedom to relax in the embrace of a God who loves us unconditionally—no matter what we believe.

Father Everyday

The first Tweet I spotted in this morning’s time line was: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” It was a Marcel Proust quote shared by @LouKavar. It made me think: In a world where an increasing number of us are declaring ourselves “spiritual, not religious,” aren’t we really describing the eyes through which we see the eternal God, our Father?

In a thought-provoking Huffington Post blog this week, columnist Jay Michaelson reflected on “A Better Way to Believe in God.” Among other things, he looked at religionists’ insistence upon believing scriptures that clearly reflect the limited knowledge of the ancient scribes, discarding empirical evidence proving these declarations inaccurate:

“Here in America, hundreds of millions of people believe in Intelligent Design, in life beginning at conception, and in a notion of a retributive God. Why? Not because of science, truthseeking, or logical inquiry. They “believe in” these things (notice the locution) because they think religion is at the core of their lives.”

By contrast, the “new eyes” of spirituality see a God that is more accessible, more responsive, more loving, compassionate and forgiving. Our Father is someone whom we invite and delight in having as a companion and active participant in our daily lives, decisions and actions.

“New eyes” can’t envision God as a male being who lives beyond the stars, visits Earth only to destroy every living thing, and hasn’t told all of His kids how to return home. No, “new eyes” have captured Jesus’s vision of God as a Father who provides His prodigal kids a safe, reliable and embracing place to turn when we need guidance, shelter, or have made mistakes. And there’s a feast and new clothes, to boot!

This is not the God we met in church: the God whose brutally torturous and deadly punishments consistently exceed all crimes—the “smack-down God,” as the Rev. Gaylon McDowell aptly characterizes Him—a Father whose behavior is frequently more human, and sadly, more inhumane than divine.

Perhaps we are increasingly seeing God with “new eyes” because while religion has encouraged us to build a personal relationship with threatening and fearsome God who uses deadly force, spirituality has helped us to build a stronger relationship that was, is, and always will be based on unconditional love. With unconditional love comes freedom—the freedom to choose how we see each other, how we see ourselves, and how we see our Father.

For those with “new eyes,” no one is outside of the Father’s Love. Every house is Father’s House. And every day is Father’s Day.

Valentine, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with you

I was stunned and saddened earlier this week to receive a Facebook invitation to a workshop that proclaimed, “If you do not have money constantly circulating in your life, there is something radically wrong with you.” The invitation was from a minister who practices the teachings of Jesus.

This young man is an indisputably beautiful person whom I genuinely love, and my intent is not to disparage him in any way. But admittedly, I was so surprised by his declaration that the Loud Mouth within me succumbed to the lure of the empty comment box beneath the invitation in about a nanosecond, immediately questioning the judgmental nature of his marketing message.

Scripture tells us that Jesus believed that absolutely nothing was wrong with the blind beggar. As far as Jesus was concerned, the man, who had been blind since birth, had done nothing wrong and neither had his parents, as presumed by the curious disciples.

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” John 9:2-3 (NIV) I could be wrong; but it seems to me that Jesus’s lesson here was that all physical conditions—even those perceived by humans to be negative, disadvantaged or disabling—serve God’s purpose.

Scripturally, God is Love 1 John 4:8 (NIV), and “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” 1 Cor 13:4-5 (NIV) When I connect those dots, it means that God’s purpose is not to harm us, and every condition benefits us in some way. Of course, this directly contradicts Exodus 20:5, the scripture to which Jesus’s disciples had referred, a scripture that claims that God unfairly punishes children for their parents’ and ancestors’ wrongdoing.

As far as I’m concerned, God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. Holding to that principle, scriptures that portray God as sadistic fall through my strainer and into the disposal; however, I honor others’ right to capture those images of an angry vindictive God in their bowls and cling to them. Similarly, I respect those who believe that material prosperity reflects a heightened level of spiritual consciousness. To me, they’re on different planes, parallel and distinct.

Investing time and energy in the acquisition of the temporary tangibles of planet Earth distracts us from the real reason we are here. However, I give loving allowance for others to hold a different belief. I’m even open to seeing proof that we can learn the lessons necessary to raise our spiritual consciousness if we’re focused on boosting our cash consciousness.

Just as we have different beliefs, we all have different styles of learning. I generally learn better when I’m paying attention to my teacher, reading the appropriate texts, questioning things that don’t make sense, and doing my homework. For example, I don’t believe that I can learn chemistry by studying English literature.

When it comes to prosperity and spirituality, I actually learned and evolved more when I was broke. Guess it’s my learning style. When my life was out of my control, I found that I was more motivated to seek Truth. Before then, I was too busy enjoying the big house with the circular drive, luxury cars and in-ground pool to ask the important questions and receive the answers that eventually brought me a more dynamic, enduring level of prosperity and priceless inner peace. In fact, I’m beginning to suspect that it was the inner peace and unconditional trust that whatever I was experiencing was for my Highest Good that attracted more bounty than I ever did through creative visualizations or 40-day prosperity programs. I’ve tried them, so I know of what I speak.

As Proverbs 4:7 (KJV) says, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting, get understanding.” It is one of my guiding principals. I trust it as unwaveringly as I trust God’s love. To deeply understand something, we must research; we must ask probing questions, not simply accept other folks’ answers. In this instance, my question was: Is my agitated response to the prosperity workshop invitation due to the minister’s lack of understanding—or my own?

If I’ve learned only one thing in my quest for spiritual truth, it’s that I’m better served by paying less attention to other people’s actions and more attention to my reactions. After all, I will not be held accountable for the way others act, only how I react.

With that in mind, there was only one thing to do: Examine this situation under the loving light of the Christ. I always begin with the premise that all dramas and all actors are playing in my theater for one reason only: to support my spiritual enlightenment. Consequently, I always begin with two questions: Why did I invite this scenario? How does it serve me?

Then I delve into the scenario-specific details. In this case: Does the concept of prosperity workshops annoy me? Truly. Am I disturbed by the idea that something is “radically wrong” with me if I don’t have positive cash flow? No question about it.

The next step takes circles back to the beginning: Why did I invite this scenario, and how does it serve me? Once asked, the answers always come—rarely immediate, but always on time. In this case, it took about a day; but, as usual, it was worth the wait.

I discovered that neither the workshops nor the “something is radically wrong with you” edict was at the heart of my discontent. When Spirit allowed me to sit in the balcony and watching the drama performed under the loving light of the Christ, I was blown away by what was revealed: The message in the invitation mirrored a judgmental, condescending and manipulative aspect of my own ego that I needed to confront and heal. Surprise, surprise, the problem was mine!

I couldn’t have gotten better news. Here’s the deal: I can’t control others’ actions, reactions, thoughts or beliefs; but I can control my own. Once I own the problem, I can shape the outcome. I have the authority and ability to change any aspect of it that I desire.

How empowering, how liberating, how exhilarating! Whoo hoo! Spirit had revealed the lesson and the blessing of the workshop invitation—a very generous gift for which I am eternally grateful.

Now the transformative work can begin: I must accept full responsibility for healing this aspect of my ego self. I must agree to be consciously aware of the lesson learned here because more scenes like it will encore on my stage. I must embrace each scenario as an opportunity to rehearse a more enlightened response, so that one day I can lovingly bring down the curtain on it and all dramas that hold no entertainment value.

The most important lesson I’ve learned through these spiritual epiphanies is that I must remember that I am not simply in the Light, I am the Light. For that, I love myself unconditionally. You are not simply in the Light. You are the Light. For that, I love you unconditionally.

What better day than Valentine’s Day to affirm and stand firm in our love for ourselves? What better day to know that just because money is not lounging in our bank accounts doesn’t meant that it’s not constantly flowing through our lives? There is only One Life and we’re in it.

What better day than this day to remember that no matter what anyone says, there is absolutely nothing wrong with us! Even if we don’t know where our next meal is coming from and can’t pay our rent or mortgage, the radical truth is that there is no spot where God is not. We are worthy of God’s presence. God is with us always–in the urban homeless shelter and the suburban mansion, in the unemployment check and the Wall Street bonus.

God is equally present and equally loving. God doesn’t love one child more or less than another. No one is highly favored. What you possess is no measure of God’s love. If you want more, simply step onto that glorious path called Self Love.

Have a divine Valentine’s Day!

Religion-Controversial