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"If
people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward,
then we are a sorry lot indeed." - Albert Einstein
"The dust will return to the ground as it
was, and the spirit will return to G-d who gave it." -
Holy Bible, Ecclesiastes 12:17
"We
are a soul, we are an immortal being, we are the personality of
God........To know that one is the personality of God is the beginning
of wisdom." - from the Annual titled "Ten Ideas
That Make a Difference", by E. Holmes; chapter 6:
"Discover Yourself"
These past couple of
weeks there have been news stories on both CNN, CBS and several print
media with copies on the Internet about a popular evangelical pastor who
has written a book in which he writes that he doesn't believe that
Heaven is exclusive to Christians. This week another evangelical
pastor was fired for writing on Facebook that he agreed with this and
supposedly a few other progressive opinions. Although none of us
can know for sure what the radical Jesus had to say about hell, Catholic
churches and fundamentalist and evangelical Christian churches, have
interpreted his words to declare that there is a "hell."
So, it is refreshing to see that at least two pastors in a religion that
has staked a claim to both a heaven and hell, out-there-somewhere, have
publicly spoken up and declared that perhaps it isn't all that they
believed them to be.
It is written in the Book of Luke 17:20The
Pharisees asked Jesus, `When will the kingdom of God come?' He answered
them, `You cannot see the kingdom of God when it
comes. 21People will
not be able to say, "Look, here it is!" or "There it is!
That is because the kingdom of God is inside you." And
as we look at the lives of so many people who have worked selflessly to
support others in their good, this rings of the truth clearly. The
world judges by appearances, and religion has fostered this throughout
the ages, but with G-d, the spirit of the thing is all-important, for as
Ernest Holmes writes we are the "personality of G-d."
During her wondrous life, Elizabeth Taylor,
faced the harsh judgments of so many people who judged her not by what
was in her heart, but by the way she outwardly lived her life. She
left Christian Science and converted to Judaism in 1959. From CNN
Belief blog: Some gave Taylor a hard time about her decision to
convert, but she stood by the choice, Ivry wrote, adding, “Biographer
Kitty Kelley quotes Taylor as saying: ‘I felt terribly sorry for the
suffering of the Jews during the war. I was attracted to their heritage.
I guess I identified with them as underdogs.’” Elizabeth also
identified with those going through the experience of living with
disease. She raised over $270-million dollars for AIDS causes and
actively promoted awareness and compassion throughout the world for
those affected by AIDS.
Elizabeth Taylor was an example of someone who
understood that we are to live life abundantly and freely. She was
not afraid to be unconventional, nor was she afraid of the harsh
judgments of the Media or the religious. In her life she married
about eight times, almost always to extraordinary men, purchased and
received as gifts some of the most beautiful diamonds in the world, and
was considered one of the most beautiful actresses to grace the silver
screen. She is quoted as saying: "I
feel very adventurous. There are so many doors to be opened, and I'm not
afraid to look behind them." This
is the consciousness that knows that life is to be lived to the fullest,
as the radical Jesus declared,
"I have come to tell you that you can have life, and have it
abundantly."
After
it was announced that Elizabeth Taylor had made her transition, Margie
Phelps, daughter of Fred Phelps, of the infamous Westboro Baptist
Church, went on Twitter and wrote: "RIP Elizabeth Taylor is
in hell as sure as you're reading this & getting mad as a wet hen.
She should've obeyed God. Too late!" Although Margie
Phelps is a "religious extremist" there are fundamentalist and
evangelical Christians who will agree with her ... multiple marriages
and friendships with homosexuals just don't add up to a life in heaven
to them. To give up "hell" would just seem so unfair to
those like Margie Phelps who are already living in it in their minds.
After all, if the "kingdom of G-d is within us" then a mind
filled with scorn and harsh judgments has blocked G-d out completely.
I often wonder how these types of
Christians would react to the radical Jesus ... who had compassion for
those living with disease and spoke up for the prostitute who was going
to be stoned ... and he was a Jew. To truly know him, through an
understanding of his teachings, is to love him ... to love him without
understanding him is idolatry. I think too many Christians are
living with SHS (super hero syndrome), expecting Jesus to save them all
the while ignoring all that he taught us so we can save ourselves; judge
not, love one another, love thy enemies, seek the kingdom of G-d within.
I believe, as did King Solomon who is believed
to be the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes
in the Bible, that "the spirit will return to
G-d who gave it" ... and I believe
fully and faithfully that "the kingdom of G-d is within us"
... and we express "G-d within us" more fully when we live
without fear of judgment, live to the blissful feelings of our heart,
and enjoy the abundance that G-d has created for us to enjoy. As
Thomas Troward revealed, "G-d wants to
enjoy life through us" ... and this
joy can only be restrained and suppressed by our fears, our misguided
judgments, and our beliefs in a heaven or hell outside of us.
We each get to choose every day what we believe
in. The teachings of the radical Jesus and the profound Love and
Law found in the science of mind philosophy, direct us to believe in the
Omnipresence of G-d, of Good; it is the way to a wonderful life. The
Presence of G-d is everywhere present; within you and me and everyone
else. G-d is no respecter of religion or anything else ...
"it rains on the good and the bad alike" the Master Mind Jesus
stated, knowing that G-d is universal ... for All, in All, and through
All ... throughout infinity. So where in the heaven could hell be?
... it can only be in the minds of those who have yet to surrender to
the grace and love of the Divine that is within them.
AND
SO IT IS!
Keep
the faith!
Rev.
Dr. Henry Lee Bates
Visit Rev. Bates BLOGS: Living
the Science of Mind
Rev
Bates en Espanol
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