Is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the One True Church? Have we found a sure way to heaven at last? Or does it matter which way we take?
Sunday School All Week continues today with a look at a wonderful, wonderful entry placed in the Comments Section last Friday by a person posting as “Birdie.”
I should like to move through this communication line-by-line, so that I can have a “conversation” about it. My words are in bold. Because of the length of her post, I have not include every single word of Birdie’s entry, but only those comments to which I have a response. Here is her entry…

My dearest Neale Donald Walsch,
Please understand that you are deeply loved, and I do this because of such.

I totally believe you when you say that, Birdie, and I thank you for your love.

While reading your books…it spoke many truths of the kingdom, in which my heart recognized its truth….None the less, there is a higher kingdom in which you speak of as pure intelligence, that I know as the Godliness of Adam and Eve, that all children are welcome to partake of through a life long path of 1. real and true acceptance of our Savior Jesus Christ as He is the only son of God with pure perfection, and 2. all the days of our life we strive to develop our skills of real living love in which Christ himself provided a path and a way.

I believe that we are all saviors, Birdie…sent here to save each other from every false thought we may have about ourselves, and every false idea, leading to fear, that we may have about God. I do believe that Christ is my Savior. As is Moses, as is Buddha, as in every other human being who would love God enough, love me enough, and love life enough to tell me the truth of Who I Am in relationship to the Divine: that I am One With It. That I am born of It, have emerged from It, desend from Divinity, and inherit it as my rightful state. The only way that I cannot be Divine is if I disclaim it, step away from it, reject it. This I can do…and to the degree that I do this, to that degree will I never experience my true relationship with God. Jesus came to tell me this, and, as such, he is my savior. I believe this, and have always believed this.
Yet I do not hold that Jesus is the only Son of God. I believe that we are all Sons and Daughters of the Divine. And I do not believe that if we do not accept Christ as our only path to the Divine that the Divine Itself will send us straight to hell. I do not believe this, Birdie, and I know that you do not believe it, either.

We are not perfect. No one, and I do mean no one, is.

I agree with you, Birdie, in the human sense of the word. As we humans define “perfection,” none of us is perfect. Yet I believe that in God’s eyes, Birdie, we are all “perfect” — in the sense that we are all doing the very best we can at any given moment. I believe that God looks at us as we might look at a 2-year-old child. Innocent — utterly innocent — and beautiful, even in his “disobediance” during the “Terrible Two’s”; innocent — utterly innocent– even in his temper tamtrums and his rage; innocent — utterly innocent — even in his rejection and “I hate you!” of his parents.
We are perfect in the eyes of God, Birdie, because God knows that, with our level of understanding and awarenes, we cannot be faulted for thinking as we do, talking as we do, and acting as we do. It is simply not our fault. Or as Jesus said on the cross, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” And he was speaking of the leaders of the most intelligent society of his time.
I don’t think we need to berate ourselves for one moment because we are not perfect, Birdie. I think we need to love ourselves. And I don’t think we ought berate others because they are not perfect. I think we need to love them. (Not that you have done this. You have not berated me in any way. I was just making a different point)

But those with the pure love of Christ with in them are more grown in their becoming because of the spirit of Christ that has grown within them. It is how we become Christ through Christ.

I could not agree more.

Your teachings are confusing because while it speaks of the God of all nations, you teach that anyone can be Christ. It is on this blog only within the last couple of weeks.

Yet anyone CAN be Christ, Birdie. That was the teaching of Christ himself.

Your teachings are confusing because while it is true that all can be Christ (Ah, I see. We agree on that.), you do not proclaim Christ as your savior; and thus are deceiving and lying to the world. Even if it is not on purpose on your part.

But I do proclaim Christ as my savior, Birdie. I do! I will always proclaim that what Jesus did, what Jesus taught, what Jesus modeled for all humanity, and what Jesus promised (that we can all be as The Christed One), has saved me from any possibility of not getting to heaven (that is, rejecting the Divinity within me…which, of course, is a rejection of Divinity Itself).
Yet I do not proclaim that Jesus is my only savior. I believe that there have been many, many Sons and Daughters of God — both in earlier times and in these times, today — who have brought me, by means of their words, their example, and their lives, to a place of greater and greater awareness of God, of Who I Really Am, and of how to experience the Divinity that God has given me. Is this wrong, Birdie? Is it wrong to proclaim Christ as my savior, and others as well?

I believe that Jesus was the Son of God, and came here absolutely to save my soul. I get that. That was his purpose. That was his mission. And he died for us because of it. And I believe that his message was that we are all Children of God, each of us no less Divine than the Christ. When we “get” that, we literally save ourselves from the “damnation” of separation from the Divine — which is the direct experience of all those who experience themselves as other than That.
I also believe that Muhammed was Divine. And I believe that Moses was Divine. And I believe that Buddha was Divine. And I believe that Mother Theresa was Divine. And I believe that Mahatma Gandhi was Divine. And I believe that Martin Luther King Jr. was Divine. And I believe that all of us, the living and the dead, are Divine. And thus, all of us are The Savior…if we choose to be; if we choose to live our lives as Christ modeled, as Christ invited us to, and as Christ will empower us to, if we will only call on him.
And I believe that invitation extends to us to also act as saviors of our fellow humans. We, too, can empower our fellow humans to live as reflections of the Divine — by living as those reflections ourselves.
This is what every saint has ever done. This is what every sage has ever taught. This is the teaching of Paramahansa Yogananda, who created the Self Realization Fellowship as an outgrowth of his life work…which work was to bring the message to all of humanity that all of humanity is Divine — and that we can all experience that if we start acting like that.
Yes, this is my belief, Birdie: That God lives in all of us. That God lives and breathes and has His Being in All Of Us.
…Yet if I am “wrong” on this, I do not believe that Jesus, or God, or any other aspect of Divinity is going to condemn me to everlasting torture and unremitting anguish in the eternal fires of hell for this mistake. What kind of a God would torture me for thinking too much of others? Wouldn’t the bigger error be in not thinking enough of them?
Tell me what I am missing here…

From the confusion of not declaring Christ, the confusion becomes the consequences of your journey.

I do declare Christ, and I do not feel confused at all, Birdie. ‘i simply feel loved. Even if I am wrong. As I said…even if I am wrong about all this, I know that I am loved.

You have hurt me deeply because of the confusion. ]

There is no reason for you to feel hurt by me, Birdie. Nothing that I say can possibly hurt you. When you stand in your belief, when you firmly embrace your truth, the fact that someone else does not cannot possible hurt you. Gently I will say to you that I will not take responsibility for that.

And when genuine pain arises from a confrontational force that is opposing to the deepest knowledge of truth within one’s soul, the need arises to defend in which you see as hate instead of truth. Christians which the LDS are in the deepest sense of belief in Christ and Gods gift and process of eternal life, are called to be witness of the truth, to defend when necessary and to heal when given the opportunity of a contrite spirit.

My wonderful friend, “defense” is the response of a person who does not know who he or she really is. “Defense” is a reaction of those who feel that they can somehow be “attacked” — and that they can somehow “lose” something as a result of the attack. God cannot “lose” anything as a result of being attacked — so who are you defending???

I forgive you in all ways, however I can not suffer to be in the presence of confusion any longer.

Of course, if you do not remain among the confused, among whom shall you remain? And what good, exactly, will you do there — ? If Jesus did that, you would not have him to talk so beautifully about.

Because of the love within my soul for you, I ask and encourage that you would speak directly to the true Prophet of the church, so that I may know you are in the best of hands, because my soul weeps for you. You are such a great man that can move the hearts of the mass. Please help to do it in the right way. I am sure President Monson would love to speak to you.

I would love to speak to President Thomas Monson, the head, on earth, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I don’t know that he would have the time or the inclination to speak with me…but I would surely love to speak with him.

I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, that the Melchazedek Priesthood will welcome and surround you in their loving arms. That they will depart healing, wisdom and understanding.

I will always, always, always accept the prayers of others, Birdie. With gratitude and with humility. I do not claim, nor have I ever claimed, to have all the answers, or to be “right” about anything.
Now if I can just get “No Name” to pray for me, then we’ll be getting somewhere…

I am sorry if my writings have caused hardship to anyone.

They did not, Birdie. Your writings are beautiful. Filled with love and softness and sweetness and the love of Jesus. God bless you, Birdie, for demonstrating Christianity and not just talking about it.

Please find compassion upon “unnamed one”. He fought to defend the innocent. And what looked like pure hate, was pure love in action.

I do have compassion for No Name, Birdie. That is exactly what I feel for him or her. Compassion. Great compassion.

It grieves my heart to know that I required such. It reflects to me where I was and where I was going, and what the Lord required of another to wake me to my senses. Never again. I am a part of the fold where good is good, and evil is evil, and that of a contentious spirit is to be abstained from as it hurts too much.

Dear, sweet Birdie…nothing can hurt those who cannot be wounded…surely not by simple disagreement.

As it is, the writing I was going to write, will not be written. Instead a new and good venture will take place – The adventures of the twins: Meek and Mild.
I may depart these waters in peace now.
Thank you.
love always,
Birdie

Good to have had you with us, Birdie. Travel well, and live long upon the earth. All of us here love you. Well, most of us, anyway. I can’t speak for No Name.
More tomorrow, as Sunday School All Week continues.