Power.

Why do the Churches continue to preach the old image of God as the dispenser of rewards and punishments?

The answer is simple - Power!

The conservative establishment (the rich) usurped the authority of God long ago and they use it to subjugate the masses.

They convince themselves that without rewards and punishments sinful humanity would be uncontrollable.

But the real reason is to support their own position and privilege.

Fear of losing their position and privilege drives them to use more and more Machiavellian mass control techniques.

But this is now reactionary conservatism.

Humankind has outgrown the old image of God.

It is yet to be seen whether the rich will accept the New Paradigm and embrace equality or not.

They have nothing to fear.

They will lose nothing but their fear and guilt.

Prevailing Winds.

In the Bible and other works we find the standard wisdom of each time and place.

This is why the image of God seems to change and evolve.

Early in the Bible we find the philosophy of success - i.e. God rewards good behavior and punishes bad behavior on earth.

This can be seen in the Old Testament prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
The misfortunes of Israel are ascribed to punishments from God for turning away from Him.

By he time that the Book of Job was written humankind had realized that this simply did not happen.
The Book of Job is an attempt to explain why.

When we come to the time of the New Testament we are presented with an entirely new image of God as a loving Father who wishes the best for His children.

This is interspersed with the old images of punishment which humankind had not entirely shaken off.  Some of these were projected into the afterlife.

The time has now come to discard the false image of God as a dispenser of rewards and punishments.

God punishes no one.

He is our loving Father and we are His children.

The Old and the New.

Just as the orthodox religious authorities of the time murdered Jesus, so the orthodox religious authorities of our time oppose the New Paradigm.

It would be a great surprise to them that the very thing they crave - divine revelation - is the very thing that they oppose.

The old, established authorities always resist any challenge to their orthodox position.
This gives them power.
And they do not share power.

So when the new revelations come the old authorities resist.
They don't believe that they come from God.

The Pharisees called Jesus Beelzebub, the Fundamentalists call Progressives Satan.

They demonize their own God.

So don't be too eager to demonize the new, you might just be demonizing God.

The Big Picture.

When we are in the world we justify ourselves and condemn others.

But when we draw close to God we begin to see the big picture.

God is the Father of us all.
And He treats everyone with the same mercy and forgiveness.

God does not punish any of us.
He forgives us and sets us free.
Free to love and free to help.

There may be any number of reasons why people act the way they do.
The chief among these being fear.

God does not condemn us for our fears.

"'"Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me."'"  Matthew 25:40 (NRSV)

And God's family includes everyone.


[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

Violence.

The bane of our world is violence.

Violence comes from fear.

When we get a fright we  respond with fight or flight.

So our aggressive actions are triggered by fears.

In the darkness we imagine that violence can win.

But the end does not justify the means.

The end is the means.

Violence beets violence.

Fear begets fear.

So, rather than perpetuating violence on earth, we should address the fears that cause violence.

Beginning and ending with the fear of God.

Fear in the Darkness.

We are born into darkness.

When we are in darkness we are plagued by fears.

Primitive humans were in darkness.
They imagined all manner of evil spirits and gods around them.

Scientific knowledge has dispelled much of this fear.
It has also challenged faith in one God.

As we approach God through prayer, contemplation, and love we begin to see.
And as we begin to see our fear leaves us.

There is nothing to fear from God.
He wishes only our benefit and progress.

This comes through Love.

And "perfect love casts out fear.'  1 John 4:18 (NRSV)


[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

Nude.

Have you noticed how rock stars, models, and sportsmen and women seem to be appearing nude all the time.

This is being done by stars who have sold their souls to the devil, in order to get you in.

It serves two purposes:
1.  To get you to buy their product.
2.  To get you into hell.

They hope that you will become obsessed with them and this will generate income for them.

They will then tempt you and curse you with the hope that you will go to hell.

It is at once cynical and diabolical.

There is nothing wrong with nudity itself.
It is the way that it is being used that is sinful.

So be wary of stars who display themselves nude.
They may just be after your soul.

(N.B.  There is no hell in reality.  In the end there is only God's Love.)

Respect.

Love brings with it both desire and respect.

Desire for the loved one and respect for his or her wishes.

All too often desire dominates and we neglect respect.

But if we truly love the beloved we will respect their wishes.

Sometimes our desire is so strong that we overlook the fact that the object of our desire is a human being with a will and rights of their own.

This is where respect can save us from violating the rights of the loved one, either physically or emotionally.

We must respect the wishes of the loved one no matter whether they fall in with our desires or not.

Sometimes we must sacrifice our desire in order to respect the wishes of the loved one.

There will hopefully be other opportunities to express our desire with others.

To men who are unable to reciprocate the desire of another man I would say:
Rather than rejecting us violently.
Let us down gently.

Capricorn.

I was surprised when an astrologer said to me that Jesus was governed by the sign of Pisces but the Church was governed by Capricorn.

This was because the Church and the State were part of the social authority structure - the establishment.

This is how it was before the fall of Christendom.
The Church was an authority.

When we think now of spirituality we no longer think of an institution invested with social authority.
We think of green trees and political ideals.
God is no longer confined to stone buildings.
He roams freely through nature and acts for social justice.

So perhaps Christianity can return to the sign of Pisces - the sign of the spirit - and follow Jesus - the gentle teacher of Love.