God IS Love
In my last blog (actually, it was my first blog as well), I discussed a bit about my religious history and the various “Christian” iterations I have gone through as well as my struggle in recent years to re-build my faith in God without assuming that my views are now “right” and other people’s views about God are “wrong.” Now, being discerning about the veracity of one’s claims in life – whether religiously or politically – is not always a bad thing. Having said that, when one truly believes that the people who are “wrong” about their views on God are going to hell when they die – a place of eternal, conscious torment – well…that’s a problem! This is also exactly what I used to believe and, unfortunately, there are many religious groups that still hold to those views today.
When I got back from church in Lewis last week, a car was pulling away from the house as I was pulling into the driveway. When I came into the house, Lisa said – “You just missed the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They just left.” Jehovah’s Witnesses are a religious group that believes only 144,000 go to heaven to reign with Jesus. To attain a place among those 144,000 people, one must devote their life to “witnessing” to the truth about God and what God. This is why those who prescribe to this faith tirelessly go door-to-door, stand on city street corners, never miss church, etc. Most of us think that sort of behavior is extreme. However, I know of at least two churches (not Jehovah’s Witness) in Essex County that, if you pressed their doctrine on the issue, actually believe the same thing: that if you don’t believe a certain “formula” about Jesus and the work they believe He came to do, you are most definitely going to hell when you die. In other words, any deviation from what THEY believe the Bible says about heaven and hell and who is in or out, will mean eternal torment for you.
This is such a trap for humans to fall into: thinking that our own personal views are clean and right, all the while demonizing the other side and thinking they are unclean, bad people. We see it also in the current political divide in this country, but that’s another topic for another time. Thankfully, I believe something different now. I believe that God, the Divine, or whatever name you want to refer to the eternal Spirit, is a universal God who loves everybody as is. I believe that, in the end, love will win. I believe this because God IS love. Jesus came, not to judge or condemn, but to fully display the heart of God: calling out injustices, giving good news to poor people, setting prisoners - and those oppressed by the religious and political system - free (Luke 4:18-19). If God really is love…If God is fully committed to such things, there is true freedom to live and interact with people genuinely, rather than with fear and condemnation; freedom to love one’s neighbor with pure motives, not so that one can avoid the fires of an eternal hell. This is a much more humanizing way to live and to look at the world and, hopefully, we will be committed to those things at the Elizabethtown/Lewis Church.
