Which God?

Once upon a time, before I learned that questioning is vital, back when I believed what I was told by others, I believed in a god-who-posed-as-God. God created man in His own image, and then we returned the favor -- thus, god was created in the image of man ... with all of man's insecurities and limitations projected onto him. And so this god, sounded a lot like a human. In fact, he sounded a lot like a(n insane) man, courting a woman, "Oh, you are the one that I want! I love you, and I desire you -- I want you to choose me! I want you to be with me forever and ever ... you have one month in which to choose me in return, and if you make the wrong choice, if you choose to not love me in return, then I have no choice but to hunt you down, and torture you forever. So, please love me back, for your own good."

What sort of "love" would that be? Sure, she could choose, out of her fear, to go through the motions, but fear makes a lousy substitute for love.



I received this message today (& indeed I *keep* receiving this message, in a myriad of ways):

Words may help you understand something, but experience allows you to know.

Never, ever trade your own experience for someone else's words about anything that is really important.

Like God, for instance. Or love. Or what is true about another.

This is a simple awareness, but it comes to you today at exactly the right time. If you think about why, you will know.

Some claim that the conditional-god, the judgmental-god, the god who has needs, who demands that we do things a precise way, who set it up so that we were bent to fail (and thus be punished endlessly, and separated eternally), that that god is real -- and must not only be appeased, but he must be feared.

And this God, the God who has unconditional love, who needs nothing, who meets us where we are, who draws us to Himself (& indeed cannot conceive of Him, or know Him unless He does so), who teaches us through all our choices (& the resulting consequences), who has set it up that we all return to Him (for we are of Him) ... that that God is false ...

... and that there's a special punishment for those who claim that God is "too
loving."

I tried the former god for most of my life ... but I couldn't experience Him, I
could only experience the fear of his followers (which I believe was then projected onto their image of god).

The latter God is the one who drew me from the illusions of the former god, and has been leading me since.

I've got to go with the God I'm experiencing, rather than the god others tell me about...

Shalom, Dena