God Is Not Religious
WARNING: Many people, especially Christians, may find this post offensive or damn right heresy. I do not apologise for sharing my truth, my belief, my opinion, but I do sincerely apologise for any un-ease that reading this could cause; all I can suggest is that you read it with an open mind! My intentions here are not to ridicule your beliefs, but to shine a light on them, so that if you choose to, you may be able to either see them in a different light, or at least be willing to take a deeper look at the beliefs, stories, and doctrines that have been passed down to you through the generations from family, society, and institutions. Although we are all free to believe in what we want to believe in, I have found over the years as a Christian, that your beliefs can and are, often curtailed in order to correspond with the church’s beliefs. Anyone who does not believe the same as the church, is often, (but not always), viewed as problematic to say the least, and at times segregated from the church family. This post is aimed at enabling individuals, not just Christians, to re-access what they have been told that the scriptures mean, or any other spiritual text. I sincerely ask that with courage, and through prayer, contemplation, and with an open heart, that you will take the time you need to personally seek God/The Divine/It, and ask for yourself what the true meaning is for you – Kenzo
My journey with God/The Divine, has been a lifetime journey, my spiritual journey has taken me through a one on one relationship as a child with The Divine, it has taken me through Christianity from 1986 – 1996 which included becoming an ordained Pentecostal minister. From there, The Divine led me into the world of Native North American Shamanism and after many years, much learning and wonderful experiences, I was then led into the monastic life as an individual, not through a church. As of now, I find that The Divine is drawing me back to my roots as a Mystic. Does all that matter? Yes, I believe it does, because for me it has taught me that there is more than one path or one way to find God/The Divine/It (whatever that means for you), it has taught me that we are all invited to follow a spiritual life that leads us and draws us back to The Divine Spark of Life. Christian, Buddhist, it matters not, but here, my focus is on Christianity, and my belief that the bible is not a literal quote from The Divine, but a series of folklore that is open to interpretation and which has been used widely, often to control and manipulate people into subservient beings through fear and punishment.
However, this does not mean that the church should be abolished, I do feel it has its place in life and that it could be seen as a starting point on one’s evolutionary journey back to The Divine, back to the Centre of our being. Christ and The Divine are not and never have been religious, they did not give birth to religion, religion is a man-made concept to bring order and control to the masses (in my opinion). So the church does have a role, and it can bring a feeling of family and support, but I feel it does need to be re-birthed, it does need to be re-incarnated so to speak, with its central focus being on love and inclusivity, which is what Christ and The Divine is about, and I am sure there are some churches out there whose focus is on love and who are inclusive, but they need to be the majority not the minority.
As you can see, during my lifetime I have come to believe things that sets me apart from mainstream Christianity. In today’s church, my thinking would be considered of the devil, it would be considered heresy, because it goes against what the church believes the bible is, and says. When faced with difference, humans often become fearful, and where there is fear, the human tendency is often to attack the difference, belittle it, or even kill it! What a strange lot we are! I have in the past, suffered much criticism from the church because of my decisions, because of questioning the bible, and worse still, because of questioning the preacher on what he had preached.
So what do I really want to say today? There are so many aspects that need looking at, but today, I want to reinforce that God/The Divine/It, is not religious, and is available for us all, you do not have to be going to a church to be able to connect with The Divine, you are not a sinner, there is no such thing as sin but wrong thinking and wrong behaviour, of which we are all guilty of.
God/The Divine/It, does not threaten you with hell when you do something wrong, It, does not promise you heaven if you do something right, why? because The Divine/It, is not our parent, that’s what parents generally do with their children, they bargain with them or threaten them with punishment if they do something wrong. The Divine/It, does not have the same mentality that we have because It, is so much more evolved than we are individually. It, is not going to send you to hell if you do something wrong because for me, heaven and hell are internal states of being, that does not mean that there is no punishment if you break the law of the land, but it does mean you can stop fearing God/The Divine/It, because you are viewed with love. In regard to heaven and hell, if everything in your life goes wrong tomorrow, and you find yourself destitute, without work, home, food, family etc, I am sure you will go through your own hell. Likewise, if you find yourself blessed in all areas of your life, I am sure you will experience your own piece of heaven. The Divine is not a person in the sky, It, is not who or what created religion, It, is not a source of punishment, It, is universal energy, love, the spark of creation that invites us all to freely look within and realize that we are all individual leaves on different branches connected to the same universal Tree of Life.
