Can We Talk?

That’s what Joan Rivers says when she wants someone to get serious and be honest with her. I heard some things in church this morning that I need to get off my chest. Sorry if it departs from the intended continuity of this blog.

I got “saved” in June of 1982, so next year will be my 30th anniversary in the church. Add to that 12 years of Catholic school and it means I’ve been hearing about the Good News for two thirds of my life. I say this like Paul in order to qualify what I’m about to say. I’m a water-baptized, spirit-filled, bible-reading, tithing, homegroup-hosting, worship-leading, mission field-experienced Christian looking for evidence that we’re becoming like Jesus. In 42 years there should be some sign of that, shouldn’t there? It's true I don’t lose my peace as quickly when someone cuts me off on the parkway, but is that the best I can say? What I'm looking for is some victorious living in the body of Christ - people operating in the power and authority that Jesus promised and not just talking about it. Are we doing what it takes to see that happen? I have friends who struggle with chronic depression, debilitating physical conditions, and lifelong addictions. They've been in church all their lives and nothing they do seems to help them. People keep praying for them because a famous church leader once told us, "If healing doesn't come in 99 tries, try 100". I’m happy to hear about successes in Africa and Bolivia, but if healings are proof that we're moving into Christ-likeness then I'd like to see it happen for someone I know - at least someone who knows someone I know. Even if I don't see any healing miracles it would be nice to see a church full of genuinely joyful people - not acting like it while inside they're just trying to get by.


Today in my church our pastor told us not to lose our faith if we're struggling. He said we need to keep obeying God's word and circumstances will change because this world isn’t our home. Is that really what the Good News has come to? The moral structure of our society has collapsed along with the economy and there’s little hope for a recovery of either. We have enemies all over the world at a time when turning the other cheek is nothing more than an ideology that Christians don't even believe. The world is going to hell in a hand basket while we wait for Jesus to come and do something. Can we talk about all this without someone denying it and telling me if I exercise my faith I’ll see all the good things that are happening in peoples’ lives?   

Dr. Charles Stanley (whom I like very much) says the purpose of life is to come to the fullness of Christ-likeness - not signs of Christ-likeness - FULL Christ-likeness. Paul told us that we are NEW CREATIONS who have the MIND of CHRIST. These are lofty things that I’ve heard all my life. But what do they mean? And does it really happen to anyone? Just this morning in church we declared the following things in our “worship” songs. “I’m so unworthy”, “Lord you’re all I need”, and “I will wait for you to come and rescue me”. Is that the mind of Christ talking? God himself is alive in us yet we continue to speak separation into existence and wonder why we have no joy and no power. When are we going to come to our senses?

The good news is science is beginning to show us there is no separation between us and the source of the joy and power we seek - only a one-ness that Jesus talked about in the Gnostic Gospels. The bad news is we aren’t allowed to believe what Jesus said in the Gnostic Gospels because they weren’t inspired by God. How and why this awesomely narrow-minded position has been supported without question throughout church history is beyond me. The recognition of our identity in God is the key to our transformation and the answer to all our questions. Thankfully there will come a time when it becomes an accepted truth. Until then, no matter what lip service the church gives to the Holy Spirit, the present truth is this: We can’t move in power because we think it comes from somewhere outside of us. We pray for things in Jesus’ name because we don’t understand the authority of our own. I’m so thankful for his amazing, God-realized life, but Jesus didn’t intend to be idolized to the extent that we are helpless without him.  

There’s a Zen parable that illustrates what I mean.

The teacher’s dog loved his evening romps with his master. The dog would bound ahead, fetch a stick, then run back to wait for the next throw. One evening the teacher invited his brightest student to join them, a boy troubled by the seeming contradictions of Buddhist doctrine.

“You must understand”, said the teacher, “that words are only guideposts. Never let words or symbols keep you from experiencing the truth. Here, I’ll show you”.

With that the teacher called his happy dog. “Fetch me the moon”, the teacher said to the dog and pointed to the full moon. 

“Where is my dog looking”? asked the teacher of the bright pupil.  

“He’s looking at your finger”, the boy said.

“Exactly. Don’t be like my dog. Don’t confuse the pointer with the thing being pointed to.”

I’m not sure about this but as a child of God, and under the trusted guidance of the Holy Spirit for 30 years, I can’t help thinking that we’ve missed the point of Jesus’ life. In adoring him as the only begotten Son who atoned for man’s sin to appease a wrathful God, we’ve completely missed the fact that he beckons us and empowers us to be more than human life has yet been. He is calling us back to a place of unity and wholeness that existed in the beginning when there was nothing separate from God - back to an awareness of our true identity. It is in this place that we fully experience God. It is only from this place that we will realize our fullness in Christ and begin to see evidence of the joyful and victorious lives we seek.

What The Gnostics Believed

Gnosis is a Greek word that means “know” or “knowing,” but it’s not knowledge that comes from believing doctrine, having faith, or practicing a certain religious discipline. It means understanding received from God through a direct, personal experience of him. Let’s be really clear about this. Knowing God this way means knowing he is part of us, seeing ourselves in him, and merging into that kind of experience as our felt reality. The Gnostics believed Jesus not only modeled this kind of relationship with God but taught that we have exactly the same. We say we want a more experiential kind of relationship with God. If so, it will require letting go of some very deeply preconceived beliefs which may be difficult for us because we've learned to call them "the truth".

These are some of those traditional beliefs with Gnostic understanding by comparison.

Traditional: God exists in a heavenly realm apart from his creation. (Although the church teaches that he is omnipresent and that his spirit lives in us, it doesn't examine the fullness of that position. Instead, our prayers, songs, and day-to-day dialogue speak a separation into existence that creates our true experience).                                                                     
Gnostic: Rather than see God as an entity that exists outside the universe, Gnostic writers believed in a oneness of everything in existence. Not only is God the creator, he is the stuff out of which all things are created. His kingdom is not a distant place or future thing, but “an immediate and continuing spiritual reality” that we can experience at any time.

Traditional: Jesus was the only child of God.                                                            Gnostic: We are all children of God, created from his own spirit (in his image and likeness). Rather than claim any special position, the Gospel of Thomas quotes Jesus as saying, “I am not your master. He who will drink from my mouth will become as I am; I myself will become he. When you come to know yourselves you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father.” In the Gospel of John Jesus says, “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one - as you are in me, father, and I am in you. May they know you love them as much as you love me.” These statements not only recognize oneness, they clearly demonstrate that each of us has the ability to wake up from the illusion that we are separate from God.

Traditional: Man is born in original sin.                                                                            Gnostic: Man is born in goodness that can never been lost. His “sin” was the result of the development of the ego which seduced him into believing he was independent and separate from God. 

Traditional: God demands retribution for man’s sin.                                                  Gnostic: If there is no sin there is no need for retribution. Man does not and cannot exist outside of God. Waking from the ignorance of his false identity (separate) is all that’s necessary for man to restore oneness with him. 

Traditional: Jesus died to pay for man’s sin.                                                             Gnostic: Jesus allowed himself to be crucified to demonstrate that we are not the body and that our real life is eternal. He proved it by appearing several times in different ways after his resurrection. 

Traditional: We only have one life. When our bodies die our souls go to an everlasting reward in heaven or an everlasting punishment in hell.                                              Gnostic: We are eternal spiritual beings having a momentary physical experience, very likely one of many - perhaps countless. This particular experience will end, but our real life in God never does. As such there is no need nor possibility of reward or punishment. 

Traditional: Jesus will come again, descending from heaven on a cloud the same way he left.                                                                                                                             Gnostic: The “second coming” of Christ will be a spiritual manifestation - a critical mass of believers finally seeing the illusion and coming to their senses, and to true Christ-likeness.   

It's important to remember that our brains filter information like this through beliefs we already hold. Because the Gnostic understanding of God is so different from what the church has taught us it's no surprise that we could have some difficulty with it. But we must always remain open to what the spirit would show us. God's revelation did not end with, and is not limited to, the four books of the canonized bible. In the Gospel of Thomas Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. And after they have reigned they will rest."

What excites me personally is how science is beginning to prove what many of Jesus’ early followers believed. When examined from the standpoint of Quantum Physics, many of the Gnostic Gospels reflect the intimacy with God that we’re looking for. 

Introducing Gnosticism

The way I see it there are two kinds of Christians. Both of them fall well short of the Christ-likeness we're told is our goal. One doesn't get there because it's content without it. The other doesn't get there because it doesn't know how. 

The first group believes what the church teaches and doesn’t care that it never changes. People in this group avoid anything in conflict with their beliefs and will never consider anything new, since nothing new is needed. God said it. They believe it. That settles it.  Asking them to consider something different is like suggesting that 2 plus 2 might not be 4 after all. The bible serves to further assure them that they’re right and that new ideas are from the enemy. But the real enemy lies behind this false appearance of assuredness. Its name is Fear. Not a fear of what will happen if they disobey God, but a more hidden and subversive kind – a fear of an emptiness in their lives without their familiar belief system. Many in this group carry heavy burdens though life waiting for Jesus to miraculously set them free - even though Jesus himself said the truth would do that for them. But they already have the truth. What they're asking for is deliverance. Wait a minute. If they have the truth why would they still need deliverance? And if they don’t have the truth why then don’t they admit it to themselves? This frustrates me until I remember that God brings all of us to the truth in different times and in different ways. It is, in fact, the very purpose of our existence. 

The other kind of Christian isn’t content with mere church attendance and knows there's something more. This is the group I've always been in. In fact my wife and I now host a home group for this type of believer. But why are there so many of us? A few months ago I started this blog with that very question. We go from one church to another without finding what we want, only to give up and settle for something close to home. So what is it that we want? More love? More power? More of the mind of Christ? We talk about these things in church all the time but rarely see them materialize in our lives. Finally we come to the realization that what is needed is a more experiential relationship with the source of all these things – the same kind of relationship with God that Jesus had. C.S. Lewis said we wouldn’t have such a need if it couldn't be filled. Singing worship songs and hearing stories about God are nice, but they don’t really bring us the intimacy we want. It’s time to take a look at a different kind of Christianity – one that does.

Most of us picture the early church as a small, tightly knit group banded together against a hostile world, but it was not nearly as single-minded as we think. A Catholic ('universal') Church had been created which offered a system of beliefs and rituals for those who conformed to its tenets. But there were other groups which held very different beliefs about Jesus and his teachings. Unfortunately their writings were not allowed. In the 4^th century, in an attempt to unify Christianity and keep it under the control of his growing empire, Constantine I issued the Edict of Milan which officially aligned the Catholic Church with Rome. This had the effect of ending any further diversity found among Jesus' followers. Four gospels were canonized and all others (there were many) lost or destroyed. Among those lost were the writings of a group of Christians known as the 'Gnostics' (from the Greek gnosis which means knowing). Fortunately for believers many of these writings were found in a cave on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea in 1947. But by then the canonical Bible had achieved the high standing of “Word of God”, inerrant and infallible. It’s no wonder the church quietly ignored the discovery. I always wondered why, with so little information available about the life of the most important person in the history of the world (almost nothing outside of the bible) anything would be suppressed because the Church decided it wasn’t “inspired by God.” Then I read some of the lost gospels and found out why. It's too bad too. The Gnostics had exactly the kind of relationship to God that we're looking for.

Next: What they believed.

Sister St. Lawrence

I’ve been told, and I’m willing to consider the truth of it, that I hold a grudge against the Church because of things I was taught to believe when I was young. If so, this incident played a big part.

One day in the fourth grade I was eating lunch on the playground with my friend Larry. I had just taken a bite out of my sandwich when I looked up and saw the dark figure of Sister St. Lawrence standing over me. In a harsh voice that everyone could hear she shouted at me, “What is that you’re eating?” I told her it was a ham and cheese sandwich that my mom had made. She was appalled. I can still see the way her mouth fell open. “Don’t you know this is Friday?” she said. “And you’re eating meat? Haven’t you been taught that that’s a Mortal Sin?” Her voice got even louder. “Don’t you know what an offense that is to your Heavenly Father“? I was mortified. I did know what an offense it was. I told her I was sorry. I forgot it was Friday and so did my mom. I immediately crushed the rest of the sandwich and stuffed it back into my lunch box. But Sister St. Lawrence wasn’t done. Back in class she spoke to me again, this time quietly, and very seriously. “I hope you didn’t forget the penalty for committing a mortal sin. If you die in your sleep tonight you will go straight to hell and be there for all of eternity.” I couldn’t have been more terrified. I knew Father O’Connor would be saying Confession in the morning. That night I had the worst sleep of my life - waking every few minutes to check the clock and thank God I was still alive.

I was first in line at the confessional to tell Father O’Connor about my sin. He prescribed five Our Fathers and five Hail Marys for my penance. I hurried through them and immediately felt better - like the weight of the world had been lifted off of me. I thanked God again and prayed with great sincerity that He would never again let me make that kind of mistake. He never did. But some years later I read that the Pope had changed the law. It was no longer a mortal sin to eat meat on Friday. It occurred to me that anyone who had done so - and then died while it was still a sin - hadn’t been as lucky as me. Or maybe they somehow got pardoned. The point is, I never saw Sister St. Lawrence again after the fourth grade and she never apologized for making me go through that. I’ve never spoken to the Pope either, so no one has ever admitted to me that the church had been wrong in its understanding of God and his requirements. I’m sure this has caused some anger and frustration that I’ve had to internalize all these years. If nothing else this blog may bring some kind of closure for me.

But there is a deeper issue. If the church could have been wrong about something it was so sure of then, isn’t it possible it could happen again? It did. In January of 2008, after being part of the teaching of the church for more than 700 years, Pope Benedict XVI declared that Limbo, the afterlife state reserved for the un-baptized innocent, did not exist. It’s important to note that it didn’t “no longer” exist. It never did exist. Apparently the Pope had finally come to that awareness. He is to be commended for receiving a new revelation and for accepting the fact that our understanding of God can change, but Sister St. Lawrence wasn’t around to explain it to me. 

I remember what the church taught about Martin Luther too. He was the worst heretic the world had ever known because he said it was impossible to pay for someone to get out of Purgatory. But I did that all the time as a child. The church taught that we could buy Plenary Indulgences for people who had died in their sin, and so enable them to go on to heaven. How we ever believed that is a mystery now. Fear of what might happen if we didn’t do it, probably. Anyway it turns out Luther wasn’t a heretic after all. He simply had a new revelation from the Spirit of God that went against the established tradition of the Church. (Jesus had one several years earlier). As such, Protestantism was a big part of the awakening of our planet. We still aren’t free from the fear-based religious beliefs that separate us, but it was a step in the right direction. The long process continues today with discoveries in Quantum Physics that show us our relationship to the “One-ness” of all life.   

 

I’m optimistic about the future, but I’ve been suspicious about Church ever since grammar school. What else does it teach that it could be wrong about? 

And I’d still like someone to apologize, maybe even get a refund for all those Indulgences I paid for.

Why?

I said I would explain why I think the church doesn’t pursue advancement the way Education, Psychology, Astronomy and other scientific endeavors do. Because the traditional church believes we already have all we need to know. It has given us the Bible, which is the inerrant, infallible and never-changing Word of God. The odd thing is, in order to prove it we quote passages from it (Mark 13:31 and 2 Tim 3:16). I always thought that was like my mom saying, “It’s true because I say so.” The Bible also says that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. If that's true why would there be a need for any new revelation? The last book of the Bible even warns us if we add anything that “God will add us to the plagues written in the book.” Ouch! Is it any wonder why the church doesn't participate in any attempt to advance its understanding of God? 

But why can’t our understanding of scripture change? Why for instance, must a person in the 21st Century still believe in a literal description of the creation story the way Moses taught it? Why? Because we're afraid of what will happen to our faith if we examine it in a new light. Thus we can’t accept the scientific claim for an old earth because it presupposes evolution which raises questions about a “fall” of man. A fall can't be true if life is evolving. But the fall is taught in the Word of God so evolution can't be possible. And if Adam and Eve didn’t sin what was the meaning of Christ’s redemptive death on the cross? And if Christ’s death meant something other than a sacrifice for man's sin then the church must be wrong. But that can’t happen either. And so we remain stuck in our circular reasoning and church becomes less and less meaningful. The tragedy is, if we allowed it, our understanding of the universe and the amazing discoveries of Quantum Science could show us a God who would awaken us from our lethargy, excite us with its potential, and enable us with the power that Jesus had. We say we want that. What is it that holds us back?

The first thing we need is a desire for the truth that is greater than our need to prove our beliefs. As long as we insist that belief in the Bible will change the world we are not really looking for the truth. The most frustrating part is, even if the church admits the world isn't experiencing the abundant life that Jesus promised, it still doesn’t have to examine it's beliefs. Instead it reminds us that this world isn’t our home anyway. The Bible says we have mansions waiting for us on the other side. We seem content to hold onto a mythology that is long past its usefulness while we wait for Jesus to come back and make things right. But there were books known as the Gnostic Gospels that told a very different story about Jesus and a very different kind of Christianity, which books were systematically destroyed by the early church and never included in the canon. So no one knows that in the Gospel of Thomas Jesus said, “I am not your master. . . He who will drink from my mouth will become as I am, and I myself will become he. When you come to know yourselves you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father.” As the Father was in Jesus, so is He in us. The exciting thing about Quantum Science is that it's proving that to us. It is the great truth a literal interpretation of the Bible prevents us from seeing. Too bad. That truth really would set us free. 

In John 8:12 Jesus said, “I am the light of the world".
In Matthew 5:14 he tells us, “You are the light of the world”.

Believe which ever one you want. Just remember you create what you believe.

We Are All One

It is no longer simply a cliché from the rebellious ‘60s. Science is beginning to prove that, at the deepest level of existence, we are all part of the same thing. Everything that exists is created in the image and likeness of a Creator who does not exist apart from his creation. We are not APART from God. We are A PART of God. Nothing can be created that is not part of  the Creator. If this is true then the idea that God is "up there" in heaven is part of an outdated Separation Theology that serves no purpose other than to disable us. It's only an illusion that we have created by the belief systems we've adopted. Further, if everything is part of God the idea of an Enemy of God is also no more than a creation of our limited understanding - a necessary (for its time) but mythological explanation of the evil we perceive in the world.

These were the things I believed 28 years ago before I got “saved” and began trying to have faith like a Christian. It seems like the church teaches a much smaller God than I was used to then. But in order to fit in with other believers (I assumed they knew something that I didn't) I have tried to put God in a box that he is now beginning to break out of. Traditional church doctrine contradicts something too deep in my soul for me to ignore any longer.

And so I have begun the process of “outing” myself to those who are least likely to condemn me. Because of the spiritual apathy that I observe in the church I don’t  expect much feedback, but family and close friends are quick to suggest that I read the wrong kinds of books and need instead, to look to the Word of God for the truth. But I read the bible. It's a wonderful source of wisdom and guidance, and when read with the proper understanding could even be called  inerrant. The problem is we don't read it with the proper understanding. We refuse to interpret it in light of what we're learning about the nature of reality in the 21st century. God continues to reveal himself today to those who have ears to hear. And the same spirit speaks to me who spoke to the men who wrote the Word of God.  Doesn't it? And who’s Word of God are we talking about anyway? Despite what they claim, none of the world’s religions could possibly have a full and complete understanding of the nature of God, and it is becoming very dangerous for us to quarrel over the fine print of our scriptures and accuse each other of going to hell. An understanding of our one-ness in God is the only thing that will ever bring peace to the human race. I need to repeat that.

An understanding of our one-ness in God is the only thing that will ever bring peace to the human race.

If our present theologies worked, if they were functional and were producing peace on earth and goodwill to human beings, there would be no need to question them. But we live in a world of deep anger, brutal violence, terrible poverty, and unrelenting terror. If we admit that our faith in the God we believe in has not saved humanity from the brink of self-annihilation, then we may wish to entertain the possibility that we don't have a complete understanding of God after all. Further, if I truly believe that man is in need of a spiritual awakening then I have a responsibility to share what I’ve been given in order to help facilitate it. Someday soon the human race will willingly and eagerly embrace an expanded concept of God (hopefully not because of some world-wide catastrophe) and will understand that he does not care whether we are Catholic or Protestant, Jewish or Muslim, Hindu or Mormon, or have no religion at all. In fact he will not even care if we "worship" him. Why would he if there is only one of us? Unless of course we continue to believe that he is separate, living somewhere up in heaven, and needing something from us.

Religion's biggest fallacies about God:

1. God needs something from us

2. We have failed to give God what he needs

3. God has separated us from himself because we failed to give him what he needs

4. God still requires us, now from our separated position, to give him what he needs

5. God will destroy us if we do not

The world is eager to explore the latest developments in science and technology, education and medicine, psychology and cosmology. Why is it that we refuse to do the same with our spirituality?* Can there be any wonder why the church is losing it's appeal?

* I know the answer the church gives and I'll address that next time.

What Part Of God?

A friend of mine recently sent me an article that said, "When we become a defender of a particular belief about God it is no longer believing God — it is only believing our belief about Him." Is that what's happening in the church?

It has been my position that we have become so uninspired and disillusioned with our understanding of God, and our difficulty in feeling his Real presence that Church has ceased to be a power-full experience. So many go through the motions each Sunday without any evidence of the joyful, abundant life, or the power they claim to have. I'm convinced that what's needed now is a careful and thorough re-examination of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The question I’m asking people these days is, What does it really mean that the spirit of God is in you? What is the fullness of the statement that we are made in his image and likeness? And, most interestingly, what is science telling us lately about this belief? If God is spirit and that spirit is in man, then what part of God is not? What part of him is it that we look up to heaven and pray to? The answer is, No Part. There is no part of God that is separate from man. God doesn't exist somewhere outside of his creation. The universe is a manifestation of him. The things we hear and say and sing in church today clearly show a separation theology which we have spoken into existence, but which no longer resonates with thinking people, certainly not the youth, and for good reason. It’s not true. 

I'm coming to the conclusion that was more clear to me before I became a Christian. Like a drop of water is to the ocean we are all part of God. We manifest in many different ways but there is nothing which he is that we are not. Nothing that he possesses that we do not. No where he is that we are not. The idea that God is living in heaven, watching down on us and waiting for us to approach him has to be seen as part of a mythology that was necessary for early believers. It no longer serves a purpose for the spirituality of the human race and we do a dis-service to ourselves by continuing to allow it. Again I refer to our "worship" songs. Thankfully the Spirit in us is beginning to awaken us.  We are all one with God the same way Jesus was. 

When we finally come to that amazing awareness we will suddenly find the joy that's been missing. We will have a new understanding of the power and authority Jesus told us we had. Church will be a celebration more exciting than the Super Bowl. Most importantly for the future of our planet we will also see our relationship to each other in the proper way. Like Neale Donald Walsch says, "There's only one of us". That's why Jesus told us to “love your neighbor as yourself”. When we're able to do that religions will be as unnecessary as the wars we fight to prove them.