Jul 10, 2016

 

God is Love (31)

                   1 John 4:8

Love always perseveres (6)

                                     1 Corinthians 13

Will our world survive? (2)

 

I said previously that our religions have to do some serious thinking on the beliefs and methods that serve as their fundamental driving point if humanity is to survive to make it to the next level of evolution.

The problem we all have in in our religions as we know them today is that we have mixed tons of chaff with the kernels of our faiths as expressed by the founders that is difficult to know which is which. The problems are exasperated the older the religion is, since ancient tribal beliefs are always mixed in with the formal dogma, usually in subtle ways.

It is even more difficult when taking in the historical context, we seldom know what was actually said by the founder(s) and what was later added in by the authors of the texts to argue their personal opinions. We have made it easier to believe by always stating that even though we are not sure what was actually said, if it is in our holy text it must be true, since the text is deemed ‘holy’.

If we are to find the common ground in our religions so that humanity may survive and mature, we have to see that despite all that we wave about as being “Truth”, there are some basics that are spoken in all religions.

Basic among these is that all religions proclaim some belief in a power greater than themselves. We have many different names (I use “God”, but others are just as correct), but the belief is the same: this force is the guiding light of Life as we know it, a Force that we can call upon for guidance and consolation.

Maybe an agreement on the existence of this force would be all that is needed to start the conversation about to find the illusive peace that we have been searching for over 5,000 years that we have records about. There are some groups that are trying, and one I have followed in the person of Kurt Johnson is giving me some hope that some semblance of unity may occur. I recommend “The Coming Interspiritual Age”, by Kurt Johnson and David Robert Ord for a glimpse the potential of this movement. I attended a workshop by Dr. Johnson, who works with the UN on this effort to find a common ground. You would be surprised at the level of commonality that is expressed across the estimated 4,300 different religions in the world. (In case you are wondering, Christianity has about 2 billion followers, and Islam has between 1.3 to 1.5 billion believers.)

For instance, Christianity took a major shift when the Roman Emperor Constantine declared Christianity was the state religion. Until that time, Christianity was a diverse collection of groups following one leader or another, having a range of beliefs, but all centered upon Jesus and his teachings. After the declaration by the emperor, there had to be a consolidation of the various approaches, and one way only was codified for all time. The other approaches were banished and many lost, but some were hidden in the desert to be found only recently and are known as the dead sea scrolls. Of course, since the Empire was now officially Christian, the faith had to fit within the normal operation of the empire, and all different teachings were eliminated, including what seems to be some original teachings by Jesus that were deemed detrimental to the Emperor, and are in the dead sea scrolls. Thus the introduction, in a major way, of chaff into the teachings of Jesus. We will never fully know what was lost, for a quite through job was done in eliminating things, such as the truth of slavery which held 80% of the empire as hostage, and did not change with the formal introduction of Christianity.

But God perseveres, and just the birth of the concepts of interspirituality give rise to hope that we may someday find sufficient commonality across humanity, if we survive the present mess.

Sing Praises to God, sing praises;

Sing praises to our God, sing praises.

For God is God of all the earth;

Sing to God a psalm of praise.

                                 Psalm 47: 6-7 (NIH, Modified)

 

Meditation

My God, my Eternal Guide, I give thanks to be alive at this time of wonder and growth. I bow as the fountain of Love blankets our poor planet, and look in wonder at the bountiful works of Love that abound in every corner. These works ease our fears, and give us comfort, for our ever present media sources and internet connections spread primarily fear and adversity, suppressing the unacknowledged goodness that harbors Your Love that is present in all corners of our globe. I offer myself to You, to be Your mouth in spreading the good news that You are alive and well, and Your Love is alive and well at this time. Take my offering, and offer me the chances to spread Your Joy to all around me, so that at least my corner of the world becomes and remains a blessing to all who life I touch.

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