Credo
I do not write very much about religion. To me, faith is not very much about belief. Still, someone has challenged me to "confess" what I do believe. So here goes...
My Heretical Beliefs About God, Jesus, the Bible,
Love, Grace, Justice, and Radical Inclusion
I believe in God. My belief is based on my experience of God. I do not completely understand God. I feel no need to completely understand God. I experience God, and that is enough for me.
I believe that the essential nature of God is Love. God is the Divine Lover of Souls. I believe that love, much more than understanding or belief, is the fabric of relationship with the Divine.
I believe that the simple basis of faith is desire: the desire for ever-deepening relationship with the Holy One.
I believe that faith is not very much about rules, laws or commandments. It is not about moral purity. I believe that trying to be perfect does not make us any closer to the Holy One. Our fullness of being is not found through moral purity, but through extravagant love. The Lover of Souls transforms us, morally imperfect as we are, through love.
I believe in grace. I believe that the Holy One's love is a gift freely given. I believe that we do not earn it, and need not ask to receive it. I believe that God loves every person, and that nothing we do can ever stop the Holy One from loving us-not our imperfection, not even our rejection of that love.
I believe that God will never cease to seek after every person-every person without exception, in this life and the next-until every barrier to full intimacy with the Holy One falls away.
I do not believe in Hell. I do not believe that the Lover of Souls punishes anyone. I believe that justice is exemplified by reconciliation and redemption, not punishment. And I believe that no situation is so bad that God cannot redeem it.
I believe that God does not make bad things happen. They just happen, for no reason (except when caused by our actions or lack thereof). I believe that God does not rescue us from suffering, but that through love God helps us overcome suffering, and transforms suffering.
I believe that living in love with God naturally causes us to face, with him, toward our suffering world in compassionate service and just action. I believe that to work, pray and give for justice and reconciliation is the natural and necessary result of being in a relationship of love with God.
I believe that the Bible is divinely inspired-and humanly flawed. I believe that some of the Bible is inaccurate; some of it is mistaken; some of it is profoundly true. I believe that the fact that the Bible is both divinely inspired and humanly flawed is, in and of itself, a metaphor of a deep truth.
I believe the Bible contains profound truth about the nature of humanity and divinity and our relationship. I believe that truth is not always contained in the literal meaning of its words. I believe that a literal interpretation of the Bible is a reliable way to miss the point and end up far from God.
I believe that the Old Testament image of a God of rules, wrath and vengeance was a reflection of the limited understanding of the primitive Hebrews, and does not reflect the true nature of God. Some of what they believed about God was wrong. One can see their perception growing and changing during the course of the narrative.
I believe that Jesus was, in some way that I don't understand (and don't need to understand), a true expression of the Divine in human form. I don't need for that expression to have been literal-for him literally to have had one divine parent-for me to believe this. I believe in the possibility that Jesus was not literally divine. I believe it doesn't really matter. If he wasn't divine, it detracts not one bit from the truth, validity and importance of his life and message.
I believe that the fundamental truth of the resurrection narrative is that Love is stronger than Death. And I don't need for Jesus to have physically risen from the dead in order to believe that.
I do not believe in atonement, the doctrine that Jesus' death paid some price required to restore us to relationship with God. The more I learn about God's love, the less sense this makes to me.
I believe that everyone who is grounded in compassion and reconciling justice-Christian or not, religious or not, spiritual or not, theist or not-is in fact resonating with aspects of the same Divinity, regardless of the name they give it.
I have no clue about the life of the world to come. Maybe there is nothing. Maybe there is something. I do not know. I trust it will all be okay.
There is more... but perhaps this is a good place to stop for now. This has gotten very long.
My Heretical Beliefs About God, Jesus, the Bible,
Love, Grace, Justice, and Radical Inclusion
I believe in God. My belief is based on my experience of God. I do not completely understand God. I feel no need to completely understand God. I experience God, and that is enough for me.
I believe that the essential nature of God is Love. God is the Divine Lover of Souls. I believe that love, much more than understanding or belief, is the fabric of relationship with the Divine.
I believe that the simple basis of faith is desire: the desire for ever-deepening relationship with the Holy One.
I believe that faith is not very much about rules, laws or commandments. It is not about moral purity. I believe that trying to be perfect does not make us any closer to the Holy One. Our fullness of being is not found through moral purity, but through extravagant love. The Lover of Souls transforms us, morally imperfect as we are, through love.
I believe in grace. I believe that the Holy One's love is a gift freely given. I believe that we do not earn it, and need not ask to receive it. I believe that God loves every person, and that nothing we do can ever stop the Holy One from loving us-not our imperfection, not even our rejection of that love.
I believe that God will never cease to seek after every person-every person without exception, in this life and the next-until every barrier to full intimacy with the Holy One falls away.
I do not believe in Hell. I do not believe that the Lover of Souls punishes anyone. I believe that justice is exemplified by reconciliation and redemption, not punishment. And I believe that no situation is so bad that God cannot redeem it.
I believe that God does not make bad things happen. They just happen, for no reason (except when caused by our actions or lack thereof). I believe that God does not rescue us from suffering, but that through love God helps us overcome suffering, and transforms suffering.
I believe that living in love with God naturally causes us to face, with him, toward our suffering world in compassionate service and just action. I believe that to work, pray and give for justice and reconciliation is the natural and necessary result of being in a relationship of love with God.
I believe that the Bible is divinely inspired-and humanly flawed. I believe that some of the Bible is inaccurate; some of it is mistaken; some of it is profoundly true. I believe that the fact that the Bible is both divinely inspired and humanly flawed is, in and of itself, a metaphor of a deep truth.
I believe the Bible contains profound truth about the nature of humanity and divinity and our relationship. I believe that truth is not always contained in the literal meaning of its words. I believe that a literal interpretation of the Bible is a reliable way to miss the point and end up far from God.
I believe that the Old Testament image of a God of rules, wrath and vengeance was a reflection of the limited understanding of the primitive Hebrews, and does not reflect the true nature of God. Some of what they believed about God was wrong. One can see their perception growing and changing during the course of the narrative.
I believe that Jesus was, in some way that I don't understand (and don't need to understand), a true expression of the Divine in human form. I don't need for that expression to have been literal-for him literally to have had one divine parent-for me to believe this. I believe in the possibility that Jesus was not literally divine. I believe it doesn't really matter. If he wasn't divine, it detracts not one bit from the truth, validity and importance of his life and message.
I believe that the fundamental truth of the resurrection narrative is that Love is stronger than Death. And I don't need for Jesus to have physically risen from the dead in order to believe that.
I do not believe in atonement, the doctrine that Jesus' death paid some price required to restore us to relationship with God. The more I learn about God's love, the less sense this makes to me.
I believe that everyone who is grounded in compassion and reconciling justice-Christian or not, religious or not, spiritual or not, theist or not-is in fact resonating with aspects of the same Divinity, regardless of the name they give it.
I have no clue about the life of the world to come. Maybe there is nothing. Maybe there is something. I do not know. I trust it will all be okay.
There is more... but perhaps this is a good place to stop for now. This has gotten very long.