Sebastian’s question

Last week my 10 year old son Sebastian went to play at a friend’s house. Afterwards, Sebastian came home to report that when he had questioned his young friend Tim over whether or not hell existed (apparently this is something that 10 year old boys discuss when playing together) the friend had assured him that indeed it did. Sebastian challenged this (not sure where he gets that from), to which the boy replied that it was most certainly true because it was written so in the bible. When Sebastian challenged how Tim knew the bible was actually telling the truth, young Tim quickly settled this by going and asking his mother, who assured her young son that indeed the bible was true.

Sebastian came home most dissatisfied with the reasoning of these assertions, and looked to me to provide a more convincing response.

What would you say to him?

A sorry observation indeed

Here is a sample of what I get almost every day in the search text that people have typed in and got to my blog:

masturbation is wrong
sin masturbation
divorce masturbation sin
church says masturbation is sin
masturbation hell evil
bible masturbation right wrong 

Following an earlier post, I only hope each of these poor people will wake up to the plain and simple fact that there is nothing wrong whatsoever with masturbation, that the bible says nothing at all about masturbation, and that the christian church has twisted and bent this simple gift into a grotesque and unrecognisable act of shame. The only reason so many people are struggling with this otherwise very simple issue is because what they have been told by other people is in conflict with what their own feelings are telling them.

To everyone who has ever taught that masturbation is a sin, I tell you that you are a false teacher and a liar, that you have heaped unecessary guilt of those who have trusted your words, and that you should apologise to each and every person that you have deceived.

To everyone who has ever been taught that masturbation is a sin, I tell you that your sexuality is given to you by God and is very good. You are free to discover and enjoy this aspect of your sexuality in the full knowledge that you do this with God’s full blessing and that you have nothing to fear.

The right and wrong that is not

“There are no should’s and shouldn’ts, no right and wrong”

When I first read this idea in “Conversations with God” I couldn’t decide if the author was actually mad, just having a good joke, or if almost the entire view of God and Man I had inherited from christianity was completely and utterly wrong.

If this is true, that there are “no should’s and shouldn’ts, no right and wrong”, then the implications for how christianity is to be viewed are huge … just huge.

If there is no right and wrong then there is no sin; We cannot do anything wrong and therefore have no need of forgiveness or atonement. No sin means there is no seperation between us and God, and the work of Jesus on the cross becomes meaningless (at least in the “normal” christian understanding). No payment for our sins was required!

If there is no right and wrong then there is no notion of obedience to God, no notion that we should seek or even strive to do God’s will. 

If there is no right and wrong then we are neither born sinful nor become sinful, nor can ever be anything other than just as God has intended for us to be.

If there is no right and wrong then God does not “command” us to do anything, for to Him everything we do is within the bounds of natural law, and thus acceptable to Him. Indeed we cannot “not do” His will, any more than an apple can fall upwards.

If there is no right and wrong, God will never reward or punish any of us, no heaven and no hell, because we have done no right or wrong. There is no basis upon which we may be judged.

If there is no right and wrong, the entire message of the Bible is wrong, as it speaks of this distinction on almost every page.

For me, this is the crunch point where the roads diverge between the christian model of God and Man, and the “Conversations with God” model of God and Man. There is simply no way these two models can be harmonised – it’s one or the other.

The second grand illusion of man

“And this is the second great illusion of man: that the outcome of life is in doubt.” (CWG, Book 1, p21)

How can I truly love someone if the outcome of that relationship is doubt? How can this produce a truly loving relationship, and not instead a “Sponsoring Thought” of fear? Yet my teachers have taught me just this: that only certain people will “get to heaven” and all the others will “go to hell.” The outcome is in doubt! How can this produce any sort of love and not fear? Can God be depended upon? Can I really trust the outcome? And so in pledging my greatest love I greet my greatest fear! Does God really love me? Does God really accept me?

“You have projected the role of “parent” onto God, and have come up with a God Who judges and rewards and punishes, based on how good He feels about what you’ve been up to. But this is a simplistic view of God, based on your mythology. It has nothing to do with Who I Am. Having thus created an entire thought system about God based on human experience rather than spiritual truths, you then create an entire reality around love. It is a fear-based reality, rooted in the idea of a fearful, vengeful God. Its Sponsoring Thought is wrong, but to deny that thought would be to disrupt your whole theology. And though this new theology which would replace it would truly be your salvation, you cannot accept it, because the idea of a God Who is not to be feared, Who will not judge, and Who has no cause to punish is simply too magnificent to be embraced within even your grandest notion of Who and What God is.” (CWG, Book 1, p24)

As I read and re-read and re-read that last paragraph, love swells up inside me and everything within me shouts out for joy that it is true!

Spot the Difference!

Good evening folks! And yes, the atmosphere is electric here tonight as we play the grande finale of ‘Spot the Difference!” And my oh my what a finale it is – the winners take away with them tonight eternity in paradise, the losers – burning in a lake of fire forever! But now let’s meet our lucky contestents and play …. spot the difference!!! (wild and raucous applause from crowd)

On my left .. team A … the non-Christians. These people are greedy, selfish, proud and adulterous. They watch pornography, steal, lie, cheat and pretend to be something they are not. They smoke, swear, and are arrogant opiniated bone-heads that won’t listen to anyone but themselves. They judge others by their actions, but themselves by their intentions. They rationlise and justify all their bad behaviour. But worst of all, they consistently admit that they really should try and do better, but rarely do.

And on my right … team B … the Christians. These people are greedy, selfish, proud and adulterous. They watch pornography, steal, lie, cheat and pretend to be something they are not. They smoke, swear, and are arrogant opiniated bone-heads that won’t listen to anyone but themselves. They judge others by their actions, but themselves by their intentions. They rationlise and justify all their bad behaviour. But worst of all, they consistently admit that they really should try and do better, but rarely do.

And now folks … let’s determine their eternal fate … let’s play spot the difference!