My God

My God didn't come to eliminate death or suffering
Death and suffering are part of our world
He gave us the ability to make choices
He never agreed to remove their consequences
He cured the sick and raised the dead to show us He was God
He said "I AM the way the truth and the life; no one gets to the Father but by Me"
Not liking the sound of such we turned away--each one of us--to his own way
(In those days there was no King
Each one did what was right in his or her own eyes)
There were consequences for that, too
Whether we believed or not
Whether we agreed or not

Many say there are books older than the Bible
And civilizations older than the Israelites
My God claims to be their creator, as well
He waited to give His truth to just the right man...
A man He chose...
Some say that is only my God's version of the story
There were a lot of versions floating around before Moses
He claims to have only given Moses the truth of His creation
About how we all descended from Noah's family
And how Noah descended from Adam
And how Adam descended from God
Either God's crazy or He's not
Either God's lying or He's not
If He is, there are no consequences
Sheol does not exist.

My God says He created man in His image
'Though creation was not given His nature
So that His purposes might be fulfilled among us
So that we might learn how if we make the choice
We must also then be prepared to accept the consequences
There are some who don't believe there are consequences
(God didn't mean what He said--you will not surely die)
For others, they hope they can afford the consequences
Some feign ignorance ("I didn't think you were serious!)
Thinking...pretending not to know will help
If they're right, nothing will change
If they aren't, eternity will  be a long time
If God's lying, there are no consequences
If He isn't...


"What about primitive natives living deep within Amazonian rain forests
People who have never seen civilization and have never even heard of your God," you say,
"Would  your loving God still condemn them to Hell as sinners?"
"What about the 6 million innocent Jews of the Holocaust...
Weren't the Jews HIS people?"
"Where was your God when Pol Pot exterminated 2.8 million Cambodians?"
"Where was your God when innocents worldwide were being raped and tortured and slaughtered by the box-cars-full?"
"Where was He on September 11th, 2001..."
"How can a loving God let bad things happen to good people?
Was He too busy to answer their cries for help?
Was He out to lunch?
Was He just not listening?
Is He just a liar?"

 
My God never promised us the absence of pain, poverty, suffering, or death.
He offers us the only truly effective tools for coping.
He promised to be with us, to never forsake us--at all times, pain, poverty, suffering, and death.
Death and suffering are part of a life we chose,
We are not eternal
We made our choice...
Yet in death He is there with us. 
as He is with us in life.
Whether we acknowledge Him or not He is with us
Even though we declared our autonomy --(we never liked His terms)
We did not wish to serve, but to be served
And we desired no consequences
As we listened to the voices that reassured us there would be none
--yet He is still with us.

There are no eternal consequences with false gods, there's only transformation
They offer it all--knowledge, advancement, fulfillment, success, wisdom, power
They know our true nature
They appeal to desire
They do not acknowledge our deepest universal inner darkness
False gods exhort us to find and embrace the light within us
They flatter idly, appealing to our senses and reason
My God says our true natures are driven by self-interest
And our senses
To be served, not to serve
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link
Spawned by our counterfeit moon-lit leader, we think we are light
It appeals to our senses
It appeals to our reason and logic
We desired knowledge (see: The Garden)
And counterfeit righteousness
And the facade of holiness
We say we desire peace
We are only narcissists...
Be true to thyself, know thyself, love thyself, heal thyself, listen to your inner voice, embrace the child within, be all you can be, have it your way...
My God says our inner light will always be dimmed by our hidden agendas
And thus is no light at all

My God says our world will disintegrate at our own hands because the only love we have is self-love
Our hearts are corrupt
We want life our way--serving self first, then if there's anything left--others, last
We want to believe we are basically good
"Basically" is worth as much as "almost"
We are never satisfied
We always want more no matter what we have
We envy what others have
"I desrve better than this!" we cry
We'll step on another to get what we need if they create an obstacle to our (greater) need
Even if it's just looking away at those intersections where the homeless hold cardboard signs
We justify our actions by thinking "why throw my hard-earned money at their addictions'
My God says we do not understand our true nature
My God says we cannot fix "sin"
He says sin does not begin with a physical act, but is rather an attitude of the heart
And we can never fix that in ourselves because we really don't think there's anything wrong with us

He says our sin-fulness is what distinguishes us from Him
Our own hearts keep us away from God
We exalt reason
We respond to our senses
We listen to our inner selves
We do not want to know Him
We do not want to obey Him
We do not want to read his book to find out whether we are wrong about Him
We want autonomy from Him,
We want to do things our way
We deny that we were created by Him
We prefer to believe we just happened--random molecular division evolving into something greater than amoebae
But our universe is obviously de-volving, spiraling downward, expanding, entropy
There is NO proof we are improving as a species--we keep rebuilding fallen empires
We're supposed to be smarter than our ancestors--where is the proof of our evolution?
We've just imcreased transportation and communication
We measure our worth by acquisition and achievement

My God says the beginning of true wisdom is fear of Him
That's a message you won't hear in today's growth-oriented churches
We've substituted "awe" for fear
"Sin" is not a word we like to hear--it's too negative
Besides we're basically good
We can't listen for too long anyway--so keep it short
My God says He offered us life with Him, but we chose another
He says we were given the choice
But we were never given control of the consequences
We pursue false gods because they withhold the truth regarding consequences
They want our souls

Where were those gods when the Jews were gassed and dying? 
What profit was wisdom and enlightenment when the Cambodians were being beheaded?
Who comforted the child within those passengers who watched as their planes circled the twin towers?
Buddha?
Krishna?
Mithra?
Dwaj?
Mohammed?
Allah?
Sai Baba?
Where was Jesus Christ?
He was removing all fear from those who turned to Him in their last terrifying moments
He was eliminating all pain
He was right there in the midst of the suffering, comforting all who called upon His name
For He is the only remedy for fear
He is the only remedy for pain
He is the only remedy for selfishness, suffering, terror, and tragedy
He is the only remedy for death itself
He rose from death to offer us hope

Choose now...
Wisdom or Life?
Fear or hope?
Gnosis or Pisteueo?
Jesus Christ claimed He was not only the Son of God, but God Almighty
In the flesh
The Word Incarnate
Man and God
LOGOS
YHVH
EGO EIMI
The Alpha and the Omega
He is not about a church made with hands
He is not about religion
It is one on One
It is all about Him
Either He's crazy or a liar
Or He's telling the truth
If He IS God
We need Him
Maranatha
Immanuel
Amen.

--© 2004 RedbirdCafe/B. Elders

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