Will the upheaval in which the world finds itself ever come to an end? The answer is Yes!, as youll see in these continuing excerpts from The Storm Before the Calm, in which youll discover the role you can play in the times just ahead.... Can you believe what we believe? HERE IS A QUICK survey of some of the things many people have been told by their ancestors, by their parents, by their teachers, and by other authority figures in their lives about God’s desire. It may be tough for some of you to get through this survey. Please do it anyway. Let’s take the most obvious topics first. Regarding God…many humans have been told that God’s desire is for humans to understand that God is the Supreme Being, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Giver of Life, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Wise Beyond Human Understanding. God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the Unmoved Mover, separate from humanity, but the creator of it in His own image. Separate from life, but the Creator of it, as His gift to humanity. Most humans have been told that God is a single God, a unified God, the Only God there is. The word Allah means, literally, the God. Some humans have been told that this One God is divided into Three Parts, one of which became human. Some humans have been told that there is more than one God. And some humans have been told that there is no God at all. The majority of humans in the 21st century believe in a God of some sort. Most of those who do believe in God have been told that God’s desire is Love and Justice. To fulfill the first mandate, God has granted each human being ample and repeated opportunity to be reconciled with Him. To fulfill the second mandate, God, at the end of each human life, sits in Judgment of every human soul, deciding at this Reckoning whether the soul has earned everlasting reward in Heaven or everlasting damnation in Hell. Most humans have been told that God is a jealous God, God is a vengeful God, God is an angry God who can be filled with wrath and who uses violence directly on human beings—and who invites and even commands human beings to do so on each other. They’ve also been told that God is a caring God, a compassionate God, a merciful God, a loving God who wants nothing but the best for human beings. All that humans have to do is obey Him. It’s easy for humans to know how to obey God because God has told humans exactly what to do and what not to do. It’s all there in Sacred Scripture. It can be found also in the words and in the teaching of God’s personal representative on Earth. These are the beliefs of much of humanity. One result of this teaching: Many human beings are afraid of God. They also love God. So, many humans confuse fear and love, seeing them as connected in some way. Where God is concerned, we love to be afraid (we have made it a virtue to be “God fearing”), and we are afraid not to love (we are commanded to “Love the Lord thy God with all thy mind, all thy heart, and all thy soul”). Humans fear what God will do to them if they do not obey Him. They have been told He will punish them with everlasting torment. Many human beings therefore rely heavily on their understanding of God’s word and God’s desires and what meets God’s approval when regulating their lives, interpreting situations or events, and making decisions. When U.S. President George W. Bush was asked if he ever sought the advice of his father, the first President Bush, he replied that he sought counsel from “a higher Father.” When the then new spiritual leader of Hamas, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, delivered a speech at Gaza’s Islamic University in March 2004, he told those assembled that “God declared war” against America, Bush, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Rantisi added, “The war of God continues against them and I can see the victory coming up from the land of Palestine by the hand of Hamas.” Two weeks later Rantisi was dead, killed by an Israeli rocket attack on his car. Earlier it was said, “Humanity’s ideas about God produce humanity’s ideas about life and about people.” This is painfully clear. This is painfully obvious. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Check out the website that has been specially created to allow the conversation that has been started here to continue. Go to TheGlobalConversation and see what you think.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 13:00:00 +0000
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