You Must Believe: Part 4- Do No Evil

"Also, you quote Jesus as being a person who influences you. But Jesus didn't teach us to be good people for the heck of it. He told us God himself loves us & is compassionate, and we should be the same towards others because it is the right thing to do, and God dictates this. He wasn't here to teach us to JUST be better people. He was here to reveal God, and he believed in the God of the Bible as presented by the bible, and made some pretty hefty claims." An excerpt from a dialog with fellow blogger Ben at Discovering God's Holy Plan discussing my beliefs.

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Is being a good, nice person good enough? The religious authorities of various world faiths would collectively say no, it is not, you must be a good Jew, Muslim, Hindu, etc. I would then ask, good enough for what, the community, ourselves, God? Does God really use the carrot-and-stick to get us to behave? Do we need an outside force to encourage us to behave? Well at least for most of us, yes, I believe so, but we can learn to outgrow the need for using God as a crutch. We should be able to draw our morality from within even with all of our mortal shortcomings.

I believe our various belief systems, although vastly different and tribal, do share a common goal: they state that there is something wrong with humanity and offer a path to change, reformation, and a higher level of consciousness. The core of Christianity is not just to save oneself but to save the whole of humanity, to elevate mankind out of the muck and mire of sin by bringing about the Kingdom of God. Interchange a few words and you can say the same for Islam and Judaism. The East, however, use a different manner of approaching this Utopian ideal for mankind by looking within oneself and discovering the True Reality hidden beneath the illusion of separation from the divine. In my humble opinion, both ways seek to unite the seeker with the sought: man with God, incarnation with Source.

It is movement, always movement, which I seek. To quote C.S. Lewis, I seek to move further up AND further in. We may bicker with one another over the systems we choose and the "pitfalls" other paths may have, but where does that lead us? It brings our individual journeys to a screeching halt and at times takes us back a step or three. How can we judge the Other (our fellow man with the "pagan" beliefs) and say that they're going in the wrong direction when we have not taken their path?

We should do no evil NOT because we are encouraged to do so by an outside source, nor for personal gain (i.e. heaven), but our urge to do no evil must come from that seed of the divine within all of us, the seedling of Love. We must transcend being more than just a good Christian, Atheist, Sikh, or even just a good person. Being faithful to your tribe is fine, but in my opinion it's limited loving. Worshiping at church, embracing and mingling with fellow believers keeps us secluded. It is easy to do no evil to those we are comfortable with in our bubble. The challenge lies in loving those we are uncomfortable being around. And I'm not talking about "hating the sin and loving the sinner" cop-out some Christians use around homosexuals. I'm talking about total embrace and acceptance of their entire being. Are these standards impossible? I don't know but I'm willing to try. We must reach the point where we fully embrace the Other regardless of the path they're on or the mistakes they've made. We should love completely and universally, we must become Love Incarnate.

You Must Believe: Part 3- Speak No Evil

"Your blog is a journey of you trying to understand and seek God. In many of the posts you have made, and things you have said, I see a lot of my previous 'secular' thinking in it,...what I see is that you are getting confused by other religions, and you are letting them sway and corrupt your own beliefs and journey." An excerpt from a dialog on Christianity I held with Ben at Discovering God's Holy Plan.

In my journey these past few years in seeking the Divine there is one thing I'm certain about: one may hear and see things that challenges the church, but when you speak about them openly you risk being exiled among the "unbelievers". What then do you do if your beliefs have changed: do you keep them bottled up inside, seek counseling from your local pastor to help with your 'lack of faith', or do you speak and dialog with those around you? How can we grow if we don't allow ourselves to seek, to question, to yearn? Where do we run to if our new discoveries challenge the very fabric of our beliefs?

A part of us yearns and reaches out for the Unnameable, yet we have placed warning signs that keep us on the established trail.

"Stay on the Trail. Do not cross. Do not Explore."

We feel there is more to discover, to experience, to love. So why is it taboo to seek? I propose that we should question everything, always, and learn to live with the mystery of the Divine, the Unnameable, the Infinite. The difficulty lies in the fact that we are mortal, fallible creatures who fear everything. So why not explore the known, why not begin, with baby steps, delving into what has already been discovered? In the above quote, Ben, from Discovering God's Holy Plan, expressed a very real fear in many Christians, the fear of being eternally disconnected from the Divine. And for many Christians, fear, not love, keeps the faithful on the established trail. We should not let fear control or even guide us, pulling us by the nose. We should boldly question, fearlessly seek, and plunge ourselves into the Unknown. As Christians, if Christ is within us why should we fear associating ourselves with other God-seekers regardless of where they're at in their own spiritual journey? Let's take it one step forward and ask why should we fear associating with non-God seekers? Is this the will of God, to erect borders to keep the unbelievers out? God doesn't want us to congregate in a church once a week worshiping him, we are to go out live, love, and embrace each other.

Is it blasphemous to ask questions, to seek, to learn from non-Christian sources? And if we have these questions how do we handle them within a community which might ignore them altogether? I believe that our connection between the Divine and our fellow man is based on love, and if we want that connection/relationship to flourish the individual is responsible for nurturing that connection even if the community leans toward another direction. I am not attempting to justify my beliefs but rather to question the concept of exclusive truth and avoidance of challenging questions. How can we discover more about the Divine if we are told there are certain doors we are never to open, certain people and cultures we are never to embrace? Let us seek to move beyond limited learning and loving and into the fields of Universal Love.

You Must Believe: Part 2- See No Evil

"What you're doing is dangerous, not only to you but to your children." -A response from a local pastor on a conversation concerning my interest in Islam.

As Christians, how does it look to others when we say we follow a loving way of life while we (as a whole) continue to cling to hateful and bigoted beliefs? We say we follow the words of Jesus "love thy neighbor" but to whom and to what lengths does this Love reach? As Christians, how does it look when we fail to stand up and call out injustice and evil when we see it? Or does this depend on the person's allegiance to Christ? Christianity, at least in the States, has taken on the mantle of moral superiority with its Judeo-Christian values. Yet the title alone is worthless without action. Ignorance coupled with fear acts as a protective bubble against the outside world, yet the outside world is becoming exponentially accessible and we can no longer hide from it, we can no longer claim to be compassionate if we (Christians) fail to act, look away, and even participate unjustly against our fellow man. Nor can Mainstream Christianity in America feign ignorance any longer while we watch new houses of worship being opened by "our enemies" and sit idly by as over 1 Billion of the world's population go hungry. We have access to information and resources, yet we lack the compassion to act. As long as we fear the other, the unknown, we will continue to keep our eyes shut hoping the problem will go away or distract ourselves by more "important" issues (like gay marriage). Hardly ever do we point at ourselves and say "the problem originates within me". We reach for the blindfold and swing at every other target except for ourselves.

The local pastor who stated the opening quote is an exceptional preacher at a great church my wife and I used to attend in Murfreesboro. My wife was troubled by the news that I seriously considered converting to Islam during the summer of 2008 and we went to our pastor for advice in handling an interfaith marriage. Not only did he not know a single thing about Islam (he asked me what century the Prophet Muhammad lived) he had never before in his life had to deal with an interfaith couple. The danger he referenced was not that Islam was evil (though he may privately believe it is) but he feared for my soul and the souls of my children. To the pastor, Christianity is THE WAY to God, and he could not see, nor care to see, any other way to the Divine. He considered Islam evil because to him there is no other way of life outside of Christianity as the ultimate symbol of love. The main difference between our views on Christianity is on the exclusive vice grip on Truth. I have chosen to look beyond any one particular religion in seeking to be a compassionate person.

I believe it is the choice to look past our man-made horizons,including the self-imposed limits found in religion, which leads us to the Unnameable. When we, as humans, try to implement the teaching 'love thy neighbor' we must ask ourselves how much do we allow ourselves to love? As much as the Church says we should love? As much as the Bible says we should love? Should we not love more than what is asked of us? Should we not remove our blindfolds and embrace the other, the unknown, the stranger? If it is ignorance which keeps us from truly loving others may we seek understanding. If it is fear which keeps us in ignorance, then may we seek the strength to break through the shade of Fear and melt into the eternal warmth of universal Love.

You Must Believe: Part 1- Hear No Evil

"It's nice that you call yourself a Christian and follow Christ but that's not enough. You must believe that he died for your sins." -A Response to my claim of being a Christian

I struggle with titles and labels. Not because of their misuse but because they fail to fully express the reality of what they're describing, nevertheless they are necessary in an impatient society (we can not sit around forever describing every detail that makes up a box of french fries to the driver-thru attendant at McDonald's now can we). So when I call myself a Christian each person reacts to that title differently based on their experience, not mine: an Atheist may automatically assume that I believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible dictated by a wrathful God who demands worship on pain of Hellfire; A Muslim might assume that I am ignorant and intolerant of other faiths (especially theirs); and a Conservative Christians might write me off as a unbeliever simply because I fail to hold the same beliefs as they do. Yet rarely do we take time to actually listen to what the other person holds dear to their heart. We apply the assumptions and stereotypes we have onto the other person the very second they describe themselves based on what WE THINK we know instead of what they truly believe.

I personally find it difficult to try and describe what I believe because 1) it challenges the majority belief in my part of the country, and 2) it is difficult to express an ongoing and constantly evolving spiritual journey. I can try and describe to you what I've experienced and felt along the way but if won't do any good if you're not willing to listen. And I mean more than just halfheartedly agreeing to listen, both parties must be willing to at least understand what the other believes and why. Some of us may not have the opportunity to listen and dialog with those with different beliefs because we surround ourselves with those who share our faith. It is natural to surround ourselves with like-minded people, although it is unchallenging to our spirituality. How can we know we truly love God and our neighbor if our neighbor shares the same faith? For those of us who are aware of our community bubble, do we then dare to leave it? If we do, we must also ask ourselves the reason for our departure: to missionize, or to interact and interconnect with our fellow man? Which is easier: attempting to convert the whole of humanity to a single faith, or attempting to understand our brother and learn to live with our differences? I am not calling for a halt to spreading the gospel but to intently listen, interact, and understand our brother's faith as well.