Love and Religion

What do I believe (in)? How do I address someone who places all their faith in God - the literal God from the Bible, whose word is the Bible?

I do not believe that Jesus "died on the cross for our sins" but rather he believed in something and it felt so right to him that he shared that belief/ that message with others and chose not to give in to his opressor's/ supressor's desires for him to be quiet or to renounce his beliefs and he was thus punished/ crucified. According to the Gospel of Thomas Jesus says, "If those who lead you say to you, 'Look, the Kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will get there first. If they say, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will get there first. Rather, the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the children of the living father." It is exactly this sort of rhetoric that was a threat to the established Church at the time, for if the Kingdom was both inside and outside of you then it was not just in the Church, or in a specific religion or governing body. The Kingdom is everywhere. In the here and now. And every person can identify with it. This is probably why only four of the fifty-two ancient Christian gospels are included in many Bibles; the dialogues found in Thomas and others could be destabilizing to many church leaders and members.

I do not believe that the Bible is the word of God. I believe it is a story just like many stories and myths that exist to help explain where we came from and establish morals and lessons that we should all abide by to maintain peace. I believe that peace is found within, so I do not find the Bible a necessity to justify peaceable actions or to share life with God or to decipher God's message. God's message is all around us; the squirrels scavenging for food, the flow of a river, the sound of the woods, the dandelions covering fields with gold in the spring, a flower blossoming, leaves changing colors, snow blanketing the ground, the sound of your own heartbeat.

Call it God, Allah, Qi, I call it Love. When you act out of love, I suppose that is the equivalent to "carrying out God's will." Once you truly Know Thyself, the eternal, primal, hungry you, the you within, then you can know peace and love. That desire for peace and love is within every being. That is the common thread connecting all humans of every race, color, nationality, age, gender, and sexuality. The universal "god" if you will. "Love thy enemy" and thy enemy ceases to exist. Act with love and there will be no enemies. This is so simple a concept.

I just finished the January/ February issue of Utne magazine and the former editor, Nina Utne closed out the issue with a very clear message that relates to this subject I've been discussing.

The real basis of religion and the real goal of spirituality
are not building institutions or enlightenment, [Author and
entrepreneur Paul] Hawken says, but the transformation
of each of us into a person who will help save the world
through acts of kindness, compassion, and generosity.

The theme that was woven through the [17th annual
Bioneers] conference is both simple and profound. Each of
us has the ability to scatter seeds of kindness. Walking
through life with the intention to do so - and acting on it -
is the most radical and effective action we can take.

I will close with my final conclusion of what it is exactly that I believe, and believe can bridge all religions, all peoples of the world:

Love Is. God is Love.
Hatred (and fear) destroy. The devil is Hate.