There’s no need to convince others of your point of view about God and about life. Simply living your life as a modeling of your most sacred beliefs is enough.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Wednesday is Question and Answer Day on the blog…a time for exploring many of the questions that people have recently asked about the nine Conversations with God books and the New Spirituality. Here’s this week’s entry…

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Question: I have always believed Hell does not exist. What I was told about God was that he loved me no matter what I did. So of course I never believed in Hell. But the more I went school and mingled with kids my age, and now in serving in the US Army, I find more and more people that claim to be religious because they fear going to Hell.
I’ve read the CwG trilogy and have just started on Friendship with God, I can’t put your books down because I feel like what you and God are saying in these books, is what I’ve always believed. So I decided to start talking to other people about what they believed in regards to God, Heaven, and Hell. And their responses were SHOCKING!
One fellow soldier thinks I’m closed minded because I don’t belief that Hell exists, because I think God loves us so much that he would never want to see in endless agony. He even went as far as trying to prove that Hell exists by showing me a website that gives 162 references in the New Testament where we are warned of Hell.
And all this so called “evidence” makes me question whether its not just me trying to make all of this up. I guess, hear what I want to hear about it all. Even now I still feel deep down in my gut that Hell and the Devil are man created illusions, but everyone around me tells me I’m wrong and close-minded.
If my goal is to know God, have a friendship with God, and then eventually be the bringer of Light, how will I ever get there if I can’t even back up what I believe when confronted with those who take the Bible literally and tell me I’m wrong? How do you do it? Can you help? K.V.
Neale’s Response: Dear K.V. …Your opportunity is not to try to convince those in the world who already hold a point of view about God and Hell, etc., but to…(a) stand as a model and an example for those who do not hold that point of view, or who hold no particular point of view at all, about God and Hell; (b) do whatever you find it comfortable and possible to do to provide access to information that supports your point of view, when asked.
If a person believes in what the Bible says about God and Hell, and holds up the Bible in hopes of getting you to agree with them, will you suddently accept the statements on that subject in the Bible? Probably not. Therefore, if a person believes in what Conversations with God says about God and Hell, and holds up CWG in hopes of getting others to agree with them, will others suddenly accept the statements on that subject in CWG? Probably not.
My point is that those who practice the New Spirituality would probably do well not to “preach the word” or try to convince anyone of anything, or change anyone’s mind about their spiritual beliefs. There is enough work to do in the world to get the 7.5 million people who have read CWG and loved it to go out and start living it — and also, as I said, to assist those who are seeking spiritual clarity around these issues to have access to the material and the messages that have so positively impacted your own life.
I have always discouraged CWG readers from proselytizing, or worrying about how to convince people who don’t agree with them that CWG is “right.” Conversations with God-Book 3 has a few words to say about all this. To wit:

People will always believe in hell, and in a God who would
send them there, as long as they believe that God is like man—
ruthless, self-serving, unforgiving, and vengeful.
In days past, most people could not imagine a God who might
rise above all of that. So they accepted the teaching of many
churches to “fear the terrible vengeance of the Lord.”
It was as if people couldn’t trust themselves to be good, to act
appropriately, on their own, for their own built-in reasons. So they
had to create a religion that taught the doctrine of an angry, retributive
God in order to keep themselves in line.

Now, you’ve asked me, “How do you do it?” The answer is, I don’t. I don’t try to convince anyone of anything. If someone starts telling me what the Bible says about this or that, my response is…
“Does what the Bible says make you feel good? Does the Bible speak to you in that way? If you feel supported and spiritually nourished and uplifted and strengthened by what you read in the Bible, I honor that more fully than I can tell you. I wouldn’t want you to change a thing. I may not believe everything that you believe, and you may not believe everything that I believe, but here is one thing we can both believe together: We can both believe that it is okay for us not to share the same beliefs, and we can both decide to continue being civil with each other, and even to liking each other and supporting each other in our journey, while we are companions on this walk of life upon the earth. God bless you as you take your steps, and God bless me as I take mine. I’ll always your right to take the path you are taking–and I’m sure you’ll do the same for me.”
That’s what I do.
Hugs….Neale.
(Ask Neale may be accessed on a daily basis in the Messengers’ Circle at Neale’s personal website: www.nealedonaldwalsch.com. Each week Neale selects a question from those posted there and publishes it in this blog.)

More from Beliefnet and our partners
Close Ad