By: Sarah O’Leary
Source: Huffington Post
What if believers weren’t taught to fear God, but to welcome Him? What would that God (and the resulting world) look like?
I decided to consider the existence of a loving, omnipotent deity of my understanding Who was different than the Great Intimidator of Catholic upbringing. I soul searched for the God Who didn’t believe in faulting me for Adam’s Original Sin or feel a need to threaten me with Hell or a host of other things I believe only impede spiritual growth. I listened carefully for the voice within me, which I believe is the God voice that is in all of us, for divine direction.
Here are some of the things I came to believe about my God (in no particular higher order):
God is NICE. He is 100 percent love, devoid of hate. My God
doesn’t have a Hell in the hereafter, waiting for sinners. The threat of eternal torment, I’m guessing, was a human creation designed to keep the rest of us in line. God isn’t a believer in “sin,” either. As humans, we are hardwired to make mistakes and misguided on purposes. Our missteps give us opportunities to lean on a loving God for guidance and comfort. It’s only when we fear less that we can become more open to making amends and granting forgiveness.
God doesn’t want us to feel threatened by Him. Fear of harm is a nasty motivator. The Big Guy would rather have us do good things because we want to honor Him, ourselves and the world around us, not because we think He’ll throw you into everlasting fire. The path to God isn’t lined with hazards we must navigate to save our very souls. I believe God is constantly rolling out the welcome mat for every one of us every second of our lives.
God isn’t a control freak. He gave us Free Will so we could learn from the success and failures of our lives. He doesn’t like the boundary-less among us who try to control others in His name, especially arrogance laden political and religious leaders who try to tell others what they can do with their bodies and in their private lives. God gave us skin so that we’d know where our responsibility ends and someone else’s begins.
God loves everyone. He loves gays and straights and pro-choicers and pro-lifers and gluttons and addicts and goody-goodies and fitness freaks and geeks and jocks and stoners and everyone elseequally from every walk of life and every religious and spiritual belief or lack thereof. He even loves the prejudiced among us who waste His time by hating other humans in hopes of gaining some level of superiority.
This article should be read and acted upon by every human being who believes in spirituality and is tired of Priests, Mullahs and Rabbis who have made it their mission to scare people of God’s wrath, instead of His love, kindness and benevolence.
Organised religions are being emptied of man’s private relationship with the higher forces and that has created conflicts, tensions and wars. It is high time that humanity reverts to its original, which is to take care of one another.