NOTHING LOST/NOTHNG TO FEAR

It's been a long time since I posted anything, I guess I've been internally processing a lot of things that I've not been able to express. My offering for today is my vision of nonduality patched together from many different spiritual perspectives.   Incomplete as it may be, it helps me to keep my eyes on the big picture...and fills me with hope. So here goes: 

Everything on earth is transitory – it’s passing away.  It arises, and falls.  All the things we count on, even heaven and earth, shall pass away….  “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.  The grass withered, and the flower thereof falleth away, But the word of the Lord endureth forever” ( 1 Pet 1:24-25).  

Everything earthly is for a season.  Why do we let these things that pass away have dominion over us?  They come, they go.  But we cling to them…

Everything old is new again.  Nothing is ever really lost…it comes around again to manifest in the natural in a different form.  Nothing is ever worthless, it all has meaning and purpose, but that meaning and purpose is for a season…we just sojourn here… (Ecc. 1:9-11, 3:15).  

If we are all “passing away” but nothing is ever really lost of our essence, death really is swallowed up in victory.  We are a form through which the Life Essence (God) shines, albeit imperfectly.  Each one is different so that the glory of Life is manifested in a different way, from a different perspective, and temporarily (for a season). But when that body passes away, nothing of the essence is lost, because “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecc. 12:7). Since nothing is lost, there is no sting and nothing to fear! 

But the carnal mind (or insert your term of preference here: ego, devil, beast, conditioning, amygdala) is a fear-monger!  And it torments us continually…never shuts up!  That’s why many “relax” by watching TV, playing games – the carnal mind is engaged with something else and is not torturing us with worry and fear.  The carnal mind is the enemy who has taken us captive and drags us to hell to torture us.  “For to be carnally minded is death: but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Rom 8:6).  At the last trump (Rev 11:15) when the beast in us has been defeated and the mind of the Christ reigns in us, we will have rest.  For those who still worship the beast, “The smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever (continually!) and they have no rest day or night” (Rev 14:9-11).  This happens in the very presence of the Lamb (v10), who is there all the time offering rest! 

It’s All Good…

There is an ancient story that tells of a student monk who began to laugh during group meditation and prayer.  The other students, horrified and embarrassed for the monk, hoped that he would stop laughing.  But his laughter grew louder and louder, until the other monks could not help but wonder what the teacher would do in the face of such irreverence.  But to the amazement of all the other monks, the teacher pronounced the laughing monk enlightened!  The monk laughed because he saw that everything is wonderful! Everything does work together for GOOD! It’s Divine play, in a way, but not as in a cruel game.  It’s a game in the sense that we shouldn’t take it so seriously, because nothing is ever really lost. There is really GOOD NEWS!  It’s only a game – there’s nothing to lose and nothing will ever be lost!  We take it all so seriously, and so cause all our own sorrow.  So we can begin to see that suffering and sorrow, although very real, are only for a season, and that everything is perfect and as it should be.  This is the peace that passes all understanding, when we see that there was never anything to fear.  

This is not to make light of the suffering in the world, just because we are in a large place and know that suffering is only for a season.  We need to work very hard to alleviate suffering, for suffering is very real.  

Right now, huge weather pattern changes are taking place, changes that could destroy millions and leave much of our planet frozen solid or an arid wasteland.  And I know it will be okay if even that happens…for nothing is ever lost.  It is all so very real and awe-inspiring; it is all also like a dream or a movie in which we are very involved.  Upon awakening, we will find ourselves in the heart of God.  Death happens, yes, but it has no sting.  There is nothing to fear.  We are on a great adventure, and we go back to where we came from.  What joy, freedom, peace, and rest is found in this knowledge:  nothing is ever lost and there is nothing to fear!

TOO MUCH CONVICTION?

Here in the Bible belt, it is common to talk with folks very passionate about their personal beliefs - and very passionately OPPOSED to those who hold different beliefs.  It is also common to hear emphatic statements to the effect that people who believe and teach differently deserve to "Burn in hell!" 

I am troubled and saddened by conversations such as these. Doubly so, I think, because as a former fundamentalist my own previous convictions would have aligned nicely with this brand of evangelism.  From my current understanding that the heart of Jesus' message is Love,  however, the driving force behind such passion appears to be hatred and fear.  

I read an article by Jay McDaniel over at Jesus, Jazz, and Buddhism that expresses some of my concerns more eloquently than I am able to, so I thought I'd post some excerpts:

What is that impulse within human beings to "strike down" others and its relation to the need to "be right?"...Why do we need to be "right" about things?  Many evangelically-minded Christians and Muslims do proselytize in aggressive ways.  Many believe that God commands them to seek converts across cultures; to proclaim that their religion is the only true religion; and to be clear that all who do not follow their religion are in big trouble, in this life or the next...more than a few wish they could pull bad ideas out of people's minds and replace them with what they believe is the Truth.  There is only one way to salvation, they say, and we happen to have discovered it.

Jesus taught that the best hope of humanity is not violence but love...Indeed the principle of non-harm was built into Jesus' teachings.  He was a pacifist, non-violent Jew.  He taught that, even as people tried to follow his way of love, they should pray for those who persecute them, turn the other cheek when someone slapped them, and sell their possessions and give to the poor.  He asked them to become the love they hoped to see in others.  Love was the Way which, for him, was also the Truth and the Life.  When he said "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life" this is what he had in mind.  He wanted others to become the Way and Truth and Life, too...

When other people are "wrong," we become angry.  Among Christians and Jews this anger is sometimes validated as righteous indignation.  We say "I am outraged.  I am mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."  This indignation seems holy to us.  We feel right in being indignant.  We want to ventilate.  Some of us wrongly imagine that even God is filled with this kind of feeling.  We speak of a wrathful God and say that this wrath is called holiness.  We speak of God as scary and unloving: a holy warrior who is preoccupied with being right. For my part, I do not see holiness in righteous indignation.  I find holiness in tenderness, in forgiveness, in gentleness, in love.  

...[Sometimes belief is held] so tightly that the belief becomes a false god.  When we hold on this way, we divide the world into good and bad, right and wrong.  Many of us commit this sin all the time, liberals as well as conservatives.  We think they are "right" and others are "wrong."  We divide the world into believers and non-believers.  We become arrogant.  Sometimes arrogance can look very sophisticated.  But it is always smug and self-assured.  It is never humble and honest.  It wears protective armor covered with an emblem which says "I know and you don't."

...I appreciate the opening to the gospel of John, which sees Christ as the light that enlightens all people, not just Jesus; and which says that Jesus reveals the light, but does not exhaust it.  I have seen more than a little of this light in people of other religions and no religion.  I have also seen it in evangelical Christians.  I cannot join the critics in a wholesale critique of evangelical Christianity.  I think the spirit can flow even in those who might think they, and they alone, possess the spirit. 

I do understand the evangelical approach, because I find it in myself.  Implicitly if not explicitly, we are all evangelicals.  In espousing our own values there is an implicit universalism.  I would not be writing this article if I did not think it would be nice if you - my reader - might be affected by what I say.  I conclude with the hope that as we try to influence others with our views, we simultaneously avoid anger and greed; we cool off and calm down; we remember that the spirit can be at work in our lives even apart from our mediation; and we recognize that our way, at its best, is but one way of being open to the spirit of wisdom at work in the world.  Let's hold onto our own convictions with a relaxed grasp, lest we fall into the sin of too much conviction, and fall away from the very hope that rightly inspires our hearts: namely that the will of God be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

Read the entire article here.

BEYOND UNIVERSALISM...

There seems to be an unspoken agreement in much of Christendom that certain topics are 'sacred cows' - not to be questioned.  One such topic that is garnering a lively discussion lately (thanks to the upcoming release of Rob Bell's new book Love Wins) is hell.  I, for one, believe an atmosphere in which questions and open discussions are repressed creates a recipe for stagnation, and so I am thankful that the book is providing an opportunity for questions and the discussion of new ideas and perspectives. 

I had already been musing on the topic of what happens after death before the present fire-storm (pun intended) erupted.  Universalism, while a step in the right direction, still seems to me to be bound to the traditional concepts of heaven or hell in an after-life rather than as present realities. I wrote about my thoughts on death in a post titled Overcoming the Sting of Death.   And Logan Geen, over at A Sect Unto Myself submitted an excellent post titled Universalist? in which the reader is invited to explore beyond Universalism as commonly thought of.

In this "Death & Spirituality" interview from 1990, Bro. David Steindl-Rast provides a fresh and multi-faith perspective on what may happen after the death of the physical body.   Food for thought...fire for questions...and fodder for discussions...

What do you think?

MY TAKE ON EVERYBODY’S TAKE ON ROB BELL’S TAKE ON HELL

OR…maybe not…maybe just my take on hell.  I was taught all my life to believe in a literal hell and a literal devil, and I firmly believed it.  I was angry when I read that people like Brian Mclaren had begun to question the doctrine of hell.  I thought that he was a heretic who would…bad as I hated to think it…go there.  I was outraged at the newer Bible translations that were “taking hell out of the Bible.”  I was as far from accepting a universalist position as could possibly be imagined.

But then, somehow I found myself questioning this doctrine of hell.  And, to even have these questions scared me to death!  When I found myself wondering about it, I’d try my best to ignore those nagging thoughts.  I’d shove ‘em to the back of my mind and try to not think about them.  I was successful for some time, but finally I came to a place where there was just no other option – it was imperative that I examine my thoughts and questions surrounding hell.  

Once my resistance was slightly lowered (very slightly, mind you), my first reaction was “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it wasn’t true?  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if nobody went to hell?”  Of course, I was still far from believing that, but still…what a joyful thought it was!

I began to tentatively read about the history of hell and the origin of the devil.  I read articles from Tentmaker and articles on the meanings of the different words used for hell and for everlasting/eternal here  and here.  I skimmed (didn't read the whole book!) The Origin and History of the Doctrine of Endless Punishment by Thayer. I read the argument that Universalism was the prevailing doctrine of early Christianity here. I watched a documentary video from the History channel on the origins of hell and a video by MSNBC that told of Carlton Pearson's journey To Hell and Back when he renounced the doctrine of hell.  But I remained far from convinced.  Sometimes when I’d come across something particularly convincing, it would scare me and I'd run back to the safety of majority opinion.  A person can't see something if they're not willing to see it, and at that time I was still not ready to be convinced! 

I'm still far from figuring it all out, and I certainly don't claim to have all the answers.  But one thing I can say is that, after much deliberation, I've come to a very different view of hell than I previously adhered to. 

The first thing that changed dramatically was my understanding of judgment.  I think there's Biblical room to see judgment as something that happens while we are in this life.   Jesus taught that we will reap the consequences of our own actions, and Paul said that we will be rewarded in this very body for the deeds we have done - good or bad (2 Corin. 5:10)!  I also believe that God's chastening is redemptive in nature. I like what Brian McLaren said here about the wrath and judgment of God:  

"...wrath means God's displeasure that allows people to experience the consequences of their negative actions....So if we neglect the poor, there will be crime and revolutionary movements ... If we neglect our children, they'll feel alienated from us, hurting themselves and us. If we neglect the environment, we'll suffer erosion and global warming....And judgment in the conventional narrative means God sending people to hell. But what if this is based on a mistaken understanding? What if judgment means "setting things right," or "restoring justice?" So for God to come as judge to bring judgment would mean God coming to stop the oppressors from oppressing, the polluters from polluting, the violent from plundering, the greedy from hoarding, etc."

I also began to see at a new level that heaven and hell are indeed very real; very literal.  But also that they are both here on this earth - present realities, ways of living we can enter into here and now, as Rob Bell said in Velvet Elvis (p. 147).   Paul taught that the Kingdom of God IS peace and joy, and Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of Heaven is at hand - so close we can reach out and touch it!   I think hell on earth is created when we are consumed by the flames of our own anger and hate, tortured by desires which are never satisfied, and tormented by never-ending fears (1 John 4:18).   In this manner, hell is created, chosen, and lived in.  In this hell of our own making, the smoke of our torment does ascend up forever and ever (continually!) and no rest can be found day or night.  Moreover, we live in this condition in the very presence of the Lamb (Rev. 14: 9-11) oblivious to the rest and peace presently available to us in the Kingdom of Heaven!  

Why do we cling so perniciously to the notion of eternal conscious torment?  I think we live in that fear because deep down we believe God's goodness and love for all creation is simply too good to be true. We just find it too difficult to believe that God could be that good, that evil could actually be overcome with good, and that the worst of us could be won over with Love.   Others have written much more eloquently than I ever could in favor of God's triumph and ultimate reconciliation of all things, so I won't say more on that front.  The above mentioned resources are excellent, Richard Beck wrote beautifully on the subject here and here, and entire lists of articles and books can be found here and here.

But I do believe that Scripture teaches that hell will not prevail, that all enemies will be defeated, and that ultimately all things in heaven and in earth will be gathered together in the Christ.  I believe "all" means "ALL," and I hope Rob Bell comes out in Love Wins with a strong elucidation that lives up to the book's title.