My Radical Faith -My Journey of Faith -Part II
I was raised in a fundamentalist Bible-Belt church that was firmly rooted in Armenian theology. The experience was a bad one, as I discussed in my first post on my faith from May. 2nd, 2008. When my father passed away in 1989, I felt a spiritual presence in the room that took me from from atheist to believer in a spiritual dimension. I really never did anything about it, though. After about 30 years of what I would describe as a spiritual wilderness, I felt a strong pull toward the spiritual in my life in 2006. I realized that in order to move forward spiritually, I had to jettison my past and start anew. I started reading the Bible again for the first time in years. However, I couldn't get past the literalism that I grew up with. My rational side could not accept some of the things that were taught me all those years ago.
The light started breaking through when I discovered Joseph Campbell and Wayne Dyer. Campbell's The Power of Myth DVD helped me see that the literal interpretation that I'd been subjected to was not the only interpretation of the Bible. Moreover, It wakened me to the fact that the symbols in the Bible had shared meanings with symbols of other religions of the world. Taking the Bible as literal history was to miss the point. Wayne Dyer's special on PBS, The Power of Intention, stirred within me a knowledge of how to discover that ultimate Source that many, including myself, refer to as God. The greatest thing that I really discovered was the truth of ultimate unconditional love.
The battle within me between all the old teachings and the new realizations culminated in me crying at a friend's home late one night. I opened myself up to God, the Divine Ground of All Being. I prayed, not as one who needed forgiveness of great sin, but as one who felt empty inside and weary of seemingly going it alone. I felt peace, and a love that I'd never truly experienced, not because it was newly given, but because I opened myself up to it. I realized that what I felt was the complete antithesis of all that I'd been taught. This was not about doing what you were told to do or converting others.
I decided to start attending church and was immediately drawn to the Unitarian Universalist movement. I felt at home the first time that I attended the UU Church of Greensboro. The idea that people from all different spiritual belief systems and from all different lifestyles could come together and worship as community was liberating, and helped me to grow. I began to discover more about my own history as a Christian. I now know that there have been others who have possessed similar understanding to mine, though many of them were branded as heretics...mainly because their beliefs took power away from the organized church and put the emphasis solely on individual faith. I also began to see the common threads running through all faiths, and the importance of depending on the guidance of spirit, rather than the doctrine of an organized church. It is my belief that anytime a religion turns to an us against them or exclusivist mentality, it has gone astray.
In my spiritual library, one will find sacred texts from most major religions, books on mythology (many by Campbell), and religion and psychology. I learn from it all and am fascinated by the light that one religion can shine on aspects of another. A Buddhist or Hindu text can show me a Christian text in a completely different light.
Here, then, are some of the tenets of my personal faith. You may accept any or none of these. You may ask me questions, but don't expect me to argue points of faith. I respect your beliefs , regardless of what they are.
1) Faith and sincerity are more important than a belief system.
2) Fear of punishment is never an adequate deterrent to sin, but true unconditional love will make one wish to do right, rather than wrong.
3) As Jesus experienced the Christ within and shared it without, so can we. We all have Christ nature within us. It just needs to be realized.
4) The death of Jesus on the cross was not about paying blood debt for sin as salvation, but about the redemptive power of love as salvation. The message that the Kingdom of God was come and is within, and that Jesus was thereby one with God, cost him his life, because he sacrificed himself to bring the message of unconditional love to everyone. I should probably capitalize Love here, because I am talking about transcendent Love, the kind that we can feel within us, but feels like it is coming from beyond us and we are a channel for it. It is because I believe and try to follow Jesus' example that I call myself a Christian.
5) The study of religion must be metaphorical in nature, because there is no way to use literal interpretation and truly describe that which is transcendent.
6) My view of God is panentheistic.
7) All will be reconciled to God, with no one lost.
Many of these views brand me as a heretic, even in today's age. So be it. My life has been transformed through my faith. The changes I've experienced are real and visible to those who have known me over the years.
Namaste and blessings on you all.
The light started breaking through when I discovered Joseph Campbell and Wayne Dyer. Campbell's The Power of Myth DVD helped me see that the literal interpretation that I'd been subjected to was not the only interpretation of the Bible. Moreover, It wakened me to the fact that the symbols in the Bible had shared meanings with symbols of other religions of the world. Taking the Bible as literal history was to miss the point. Wayne Dyer's special on PBS, The Power of Intention, stirred within me a knowledge of how to discover that ultimate Source that many, including myself, refer to as God. The greatest thing that I really discovered was the truth of ultimate unconditional love.
The battle within me between all the old teachings and the new realizations culminated in me crying at a friend's home late one night. I opened myself up to God, the Divine Ground of All Being. I prayed, not as one who needed forgiveness of great sin, but as one who felt empty inside and weary of seemingly going it alone. I felt peace, and a love that I'd never truly experienced, not because it was newly given, but because I opened myself up to it. I realized that what I felt was the complete antithesis of all that I'd been taught. This was not about doing what you were told to do or converting others.
I decided to start attending church and was immediately drawn to the Unitarian Universalist movement. I felt at home the first time that I attended the UU Church of Greensboro. The idea that people from all different spiritual belief systems and from all different lifestyles could come together and worship as community was liberating, and helped me to grow. I began to discover more about my own history as a Christian. I now know that there have been others who have possessed similar understanding to mine, though many of them were branded as heretics...mainly because their beliefs took power away from the organized church and put the emphasis solely on individual faith. I also began to see the common threads running through all faiths, and the importance of depending on the guidance of spirit, rather than the doctrine of an organized church. It is my belief that anytime a religion turns to an us against them or exclusivist mentality, it has gone astray.
In my spiritual library, one will find sacred texts from most major religions, books on mythology (many by Campbell), and religion and psychology. I learn from it all and am fascinated by the light that one religion can shine on aspects of another. A Buddhist or Hindu text can show me a Christian text in a completely different light.
Here, then, are some of the tenets of my personal faith. You may accept any or none of these. You may ask me questions, but don't expect me to argue points of faith. I respect your beliefs , regardless of what they are.
1) Faith and sincerity are more important than a belief system.
2) Fear of punishment is never an adequate deterrent to sin, but true unconditional love will make one wish to do right, rather than wrong.
3) As Jesus experienced the Christ within and shared it without, so can we. We all have Christ nature within us. It just needs to be realized.
4) The death of Jesus on the cross was not about paying blood debt for sin as salvation, but about the redemptive power of love as salvation. The message that the Kingdom of God was come and is within, and that Jesus was thereby one with God, cost him his life, because he sacrificed himself to bring the message of unconditional love to everyone. I should probably capitalize Love here, because I am talking about transcendent Love, the kind that we can feel within us, but feels like it is coming from beyond us and we are a channel for it. It is because I believe and try to follow Jesus' example that I call myself a Christian.
5) The study of religion must be metaphorical in nature, because there is no way to use literal interpretation and truly describe that which is transcendent.
6) My view of God is panentheistic.
7) All will be reconciled to God, with no one lost.
Many of these views brand me as a heretic, even in today's age. So be it. My life has been transformed through my faith. The changes I've experienced are real and visible to those who have known me over the years.
Namaste and blessings on you all.