In response to another's post on the Dragon Cave forums, I composed the following. I would be interested in seeing what others believe as well, asking that any who comment on the beliefs posted please respect the deep feelings that will go along with them. I have "J (the son)" in place of the name because something replaced the name with "*****" everywhere throughout. How odd to consider that obscene. :-/
Please read the following through twice before commenting on it. This is simply what I believe; I expect you to form your own opinions – though if they coincide with mine, such makes for less conflict between us.
I believe there is one God, creator of everything. I believe we were created to have an obedient, loving relationship with God. Here’s why:
Everyone has intense desires/needs that are based on how we as a race are put together. In general, each person feels hunger, and must eat for nourishment. Each person has a need to breathe, to take in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide. Each person feels a desire to reproduce, to expel wastes, to sleep. Each of these is important for survival of the species, for if not enough individuals do all of these in a healthy manner, there would be no more people. And for each of these desires/needs, there is something to meet them in a healthy manner. Otherwise, the desire/need would be bred out of the race over time or the race would die out.
Similarly, all across various cultures and geographies, there is found a desire/need for spiritual fulfillment. As every other expressed desire/need is required for survival of the species, so too must this spiritual drive be. And since the vast majority of cultures proclaim the fulfillment comes from a great power that was responsible for all of creation, this is most likely the healthy source of fulfilling them.
Now, add to that the sense of right and wrong that pervades all cultures. For something to be common to all, it most likely comes from a time before the cultures were separated – presumably creation or very shortly thereafter. Yet judgment requires a standard; from where did a standard of right and wrong come? Not the individual, for often what is considered “right” contradicts the self-interest of the individual (e.g., trying to rescue someone from danger by putting one’s self into that danger). So I look to the great power of the creator.
If the creator has a standard of right and wrong, then presumably the creations are designed to follow the “right” path. To be healthy, we need to follow the “right” path. But we have the ability to make choices, to choose the “wrong” path. Thus, to be healthy, on the “right” path, we must choose to be obedient to the creator’s standard. To do otherwise is unhealthy, or “sin”.
My assumption is that the creator would not have bothered creating us just for us to falter into nothingness; the creator wishes for us to be healthy, to survive – loves us. Thus we were created to be in an obedient, loving relationship with the creator.
Unfortunately, humans have a long history of not obeying the standards of the creator. We display unhealthy behaviors. The creator, wanting for us to survive, then must step in to redirect us to the “right” path.
The first unhealthy behavior, or sin, described in the Bible was disobedience. There was one rule, not to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and it was disobeyed. The healthy, obedient relationship with the creator was broken.
I believe this is what J (the son) is: God intervening on earth in human form to restore us into a healthy, obedient relationship with God. In the form of J (the son), God showed us how to live in a spiritually healthy manner. Even when humankind tortured and killed the human form, the creator interjected again in the same form (J (the son) came back) to emphasize to us how important it is for us to turn to the “right” path of obedience to the creator.
This is why J (the son) said, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one shall enter the kingdom save by me.” He was saying that the only way into a healthy relationship with God is to be obedient to God’s will, to recognize that God cares enough to intervene for us to be saved from death. No matter what we may have done in rebellion, if we become obedient to God, God will accept us. It is the healthy form in which God created us. Anything else is unhealthy and leads to spiritual death.
The greatest commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength.”
Please note that each and every human on earth is God’s creation, God’s child. God wants every one of us – you, me, our friends, our acquaintances, those we find odd, and those we detest – to be in a healthy relationship with God. In general, everyone tries to do what is right, but none of us understands all aspects of every situation. Generally, we barely understand more than our own perspective. So, we get into conflicts trying to do what we think is right, in different ways and seemingly with opposite goals.
But each of us is precious to God, wanted and loved.
How dare you not take good care of yourself? God loves YOU!
How dare any of us harm our enemies? God loves THEM!
The second greatest commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” To me, this means helping them grow into the healthy individuals God created them to be. It requires understanding of their situation. It is not doing everything for them just because you do it for yourself; it is healthier for them to do what they can, and they many not need what you need. Unfortunately, I am a lousy neighbor, mainly because I do not pay attention.
By the way, I believe in equality between man & woman because I am a Christian, not in spite of it. According to scripture, God created man and woman as partners, equals: in God’s image, male and female. Yes, there was fall from grace and God told Eve that her husband would rule over her; this has been applied to all women over the ages. But then J (the son) came, to restore us to the condition in which we were created. He told women as well as men that they were forgiven (most notably the one who told him that even dogs under the table received scraps). And when J (the son) forgives, it is not only a little bit, or half way. It is complete. Thus, men and women are restored to the equal status in which created.
Also, God is neither male nor female; God created male and female. It is like the clay cup and the clay plate in a place setting arguing about whether the potter is a cup or a plate. God is even further beyond our understanding than that. Yes, I believe J (the son) is a manifestation of God; the potter could use a clay-coated hand to hold beverages & foodstuffs in demonstration of what the cup and plate were to do. That would not make the potter a cup or a plate.
God is with us at all times and in all places. I (and apparently most everyone else?) just do not perceive God very clearly. I think in part it is because I am distracted by so many material things; it is easier for me to realize God’s handiwork when I take time away from those distractions to ponder about God.
I do not demand that all people say, “J (the son) is God”. I simply explain to them why I believe it so that they can make an informed choice for themselves. To demand someone do as I do, is to put myself first instead of God. That is where I believe that many “Religious types” fall into the wrong path and drive others away from the healthy relationship with God.
I recently read the comic showing an apparent atheist holding a gun to people’s heads in order to tell them their faith was wrong. Talk about forcing your beliefs on someone. That comic sends me the message that those who do not believe in God are all about themselves, even violent to prove they are better than others. If I had not seen that the same mistake was repeated throughout history by both those professing Christian faith and those who do not, I would stereotype atheists that way. I do not really wonder that some stereotype Christians similarly. It just seems a very sad limitation on something that could be very beautiful instead.
In the end, it is not between you and me. It is between you and God. I am both delighted and terrified at the prospect of facing God directly; delighted because I know God loves me and wants to help me into a healthy relationship with God, terrified because I know I have hurt others (whom God loves) and I still struggle with my ego wanting to be on top.
The primary (but not only) written influences on my faith have been The Bible (Revised Standard Version or NIRV mostly), C.S. Lewis (especially “Mere Christianity”), and Martin Luther. I was raised attending a Lutheran church, but currently attend a Methodist church - mainly because it is close to where I live and the doctrine Wesley preached matched what I was taught.
I leave you with this poem attributed to Saint Teresa of Calcutta, as it touched me deeply:
Do It Anyway
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway