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“Men who are their own masters are masters of nothing else” Oswald Chambers
Before settling in for the evening to further a manuscript on the simplicity of God’s ancient (and enduring!) message to mankind, I noticed that an article relating to atheism was one of the most commented on for the day. It just so happened that earlier this weekend, while contemplating what theme to cover next in the manuscript, Divine intervention pointed towards ‘Redemption and the nature of Man’.
As a scientist and researcher, driven by the need for empirical evidence and proof, I have limitless empathy and understanding for people who subscribe to a viewpoint that there is no God. By God I mean the God with a thousand names, the One God (the Creator, the Merciful, the Sovereign source of Love, the Father, Almighty, Jehovah, Allah, Christ, etc).
God is not an institution. Having been raised in an ultra-conservative, protestant Christian community, and being the only (outwardly) gay son of a former church leader, one of my earliest observations on institutionalised religion was that the moment the BMW exited the church grounds on a Sunday morning, everything ‘Christian’ was left behind, and in its place came (often Biblically-justified) family abuse, adultery, greed, pride and an endless pursuit of self-gratification.
Although there seemed to have been a lot of talk of God, unconditional Love, grace, forgiveness and service to others on a Sunday, no action followed during the week. The mystical and altogether, metaphysical nature of God was seldom, if ever, shared with the congregation and generally had no presence in the church.
God is Love. A purely literal, historical, or philosophical study of the Bible, the Holy Qur’an, or any of the other ancient Holy scriptures, will not in itself provide anyone (irrespective of religious foundation) with an adequate or true Understanding of the Omnipotent, Sovereign and Divine Grace of the God of Love.
The simplicity of the message that God is Love, Mercy, Grace and Forgiveness, is easily lost amid the ‘noise’ often associated with ancient Holy Scriptures. Modern mankind tends to overlook the reality that God has been around well before the advent of writing, before Abraham, before Mohammed and before Jesus. It was only when God instructed Moses to capture in writing, the basic principles of life, that the Truth became word.
The Holy Scriptures that followed merely served as Divinely inspired confirmations and reminders of God’s timeless message. Mankind tend to over-analyse the Holy Scriptures instead of recognising the common theme within. We confuse and complicate an otherwise simple message - that God is Love, and the One true source of Love, Kindness, Mercy and Forgiveness.
To then expect the ‘non-believer’ or atheist to gain any understanding of God - based on religious and dogmatic snippets - is futile. Hence the Knowledge that it is pointless for the Believer to engage in debate with the non-believer for they will not understand it - convincing the ‘non-believer’ is God’s Sovereign domain.
The canonical Bible. Although containing the Truth, the Bible explores it from a range of often highly edited, historically, politically and place-specific perspectives. The Old and New Testament combined, literally covers most of the history of time, and creation, as we know it. But, herein also lays the wonder - the metaphysical work of the God of Love echoes throughout the ages. The same Truth is repeated time and time again through the living messages of Prophets such as Joseph, Daniel, Esther, Moses, Elijah, David and Mohammad, to name a few. Likewise, the New Testament teachings of Jesus Christ, Paul of Tarsus, and many of those that followed, are no different – unconditional surrender to the One God of Love.
The nature of man. God created mankind in Its image (male/female), and gave form to it by taking matter from the earth, and breathing Its life into that matter. Therefore, in addition to being ‘a creature of the earth’, mankind carries within it the potential to ‘evolve’ to a state of Spiritual awareness. This Divine potential is what separates humans from animals, and is imbedded in all of us, much like a Spiritual homing beacon.
Most of us recognise this Divine potential as love. In order to gain a better understanding of God, and our own Spiritual potential, it is useful to first reflect on the nature of love. Most of us have loved before, and just as we are unable to ‘capture’ or ‘confine’ and measure of love in a material, physical, or tactile manner; neither can the Sovereign Source of Love (God for purposes of this reflection) be captured or rationalised in manmade terms.
Mankind’s Divine purpose, in realising its full Divine potential, is to become both earth and Spiritual creature. To be and not to be.
Becoming one with God. Unlocking our own Divine potential begins the moment we open ourselves to the possibility that, maybe, just maybe, there is more to life than what meets the eye, and that perhaps we are not in control. This ‘exploration’ is a deeply personal, and sacred experience between God and us. No man or man-made rule or law has standing here.
Any understanding of God requires silent reflection and contemplation, the ability to step outside ourselves, and the willingness to set aside our preconditioned ‘human’ perceptions of the world – we need to ‘get out of monkey-mode’. Becoming one with God occurs when we surrender unconditionally to God, by consciously devoting all our motivations and actions to be inspired by Love, and by extending that Love to those around us.
The good news is that we don’t choose God, God chooses us. Personally, it took the better part of 40 years (and a significant amount of tragedy) to gain some understanding of God. In many respects, God had to break my will, and force submission, before unconditional surrender came.
The best advice for those who have given up believing in God, is for you to have your argument with that invisible thing in which you don’t believe. No manmade argument will ever be enough. In the meantime, let your every action be guided by Love, and a commitment to loving mankind as you would have yourself.
