Letter To A Friend

Dear ------

Your questions of the other evening started me to thinking. So, in answer to your questions, I decided to write (type) down my thoughts in the hope that they may help or at least comfort you.

I use the term God simply because it is easier for my simple mind to grasp. To me the term means that entity that created the universe or allowed the universe to come into being. God is that entity of which all elements of the universe, including you and I, are composed.

From our conversation you appear to be very troubled over the possibility that your beliefs are not approved by God, that because these beliefs are outside main-stream religious sects and tenets you will be punished for them. That because these beliefs were arrived at by your own soul searching rather than accepted from your childhood teachings they must be wrong and that your spirituality is somehow less acceptable to God because they are the product of your mind rather that someone else’s.

The only answers I have are the beliefs and ideas that I have figured out over the years.

I belief God cannot be any worse than a good parent. This means God treats us much like a good parent would treat his or her child. You, as a mother of two, know more about being a good parent than I, but I work from imagination.

I cannot believe that a good parent would severely punish a child for living the way he or she truly believes to be the best way for him or her even if that way does not agree with the parent’s way. (I am assuming that the child is attempting to live as he or she sees best not as he or she feels will bring the most pleasure.)

Now, if that child is performing all kinds of terrible acts such as murder, rape, and other acts that deliberately harm another person, that child must be punished even to the extent of taking their earthly life if no other action is available. Does this mean that the parent no longer loves the child? No, only that a greater good must be served. Can God be any less human.

But, if that child is living according to the dictates of his or her conscience, trying to improve the way he or she lives, could you as a parent condemn your child? Can God do any less? Can God be a worse parent? If God has less humanity toward his children than a parent, can He (or She) be worth serving regardless of the possible reward?

I believe that if God has less tolerance and forgiveness than what we should expect from ourselves then He is not a God to be worshipped and I will gladly risk the punishment of a petty God rather than serve Him.

If you read the Bible, the God of the Old Testament was a vengeful God, a God of little compassion and forgiveness. The God of the New Testament is portrayed as a very different God. This God is forgiving, understanding, and loving. Why the change? Again, I believe that the change was a change in man’s perception.

Those men writing the chapters that would later be compiled into the today’s Bible realized that man would no longer willingly serve a vengeful God, a God that seemed to be less human than those who worshipped Him. It is for this reason that the New Testament was written: to change the image of God.

The teachings of Christ were necessary to make God an entity that man would and could willingly serve. But, the teachings of Christ also point to the real purpose and reason for religion and spirituality: the improvement of man ( and woman) not the improvement of organized religion or to increase the power of the church. These, I believe, are man’s additions (interpretations) of Christ’s teachings.

Christ taught that the kingdom of God is within us, that doing right is more important than talking right, that living according to one’s conscience is more important than living by someone else’s guidelines.

What Christ really taught is that taking responsibility for our actions is more important than living according to some dogma or established religious code. Living our lives the best way we know how, which may change as we learn more about ourselves, is the true path to God.

Christ also taught that prayer is a communion between man and that supreme being that I call God. While certain rituals may make praying easier or more meaningful to us, the rituals are not necessarily right nor are they wrong.

Anything that improves man’s communion with God cannot be wrong so long as we realize that prayer is not the ritual but the communion. In other words, if rituals such as kneeling, lighting candles, and using prayer beads improve our communion and concentration with God then the ritual is good. But, if that ritual begins to replace true communion with God, the ritual is bad. (I tend to be simplistic in these matters.)

Is it wrong to have someone intercede with God in our behalf? NO, so long as it is not used to replace our own communion with God and we do not substitute that person’s beliefs for our own soul-searched beliefs.

As you can see, I view God differently than some or most people but I do not believe that my view is more right or wrong than someone else’s. The only criteria I have is: does your beliefs and practices improve and aid your daily life without intentionally harming another person?

I hope that some of this helps and that my thoughts have eased your discomfort and lessened your confusion. At least you know that someone else is out on the same limb as you.

NOTE:
Since writing this letter, I realized that any name used by me for a Higher Power causes others to assume my beliefs are based on that name. God is a name used by several religious sects and it carries with it an image created over the years by those believers. While the name isn’t that important to me, I find that using a specific name encourages others to judge your beliefs without the necessity of understanding them.

Author: Don Miller
Posted: Sept. 2002

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2002 Articles

2002 Articles Home

On Obsession
Harry P. Movie
Priests & The Law
On The Parties
Greatest Invention
Artificial Minds
On Religion II
On Religion
On Oneness
On Morality
Letter To Friend
On Karma
Religious Freedom
On Rituals
On Masters
On Magic
On Society
On Reparations
On Profiling