{"id":246,"date":"2008-03-15T05:26:01","date_gmt":"2008-03-15T05:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/conversationswithgod\/2008\/03\/a-new-view-of-god.html"},"modified":"2008-03-15T05:26:01","modified_gmt":"2008-03-15T05:26:01","slug":"a-new-view-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/conversationswithgod\/2008\/03\/a-new-view-of-god.html","title":{"rendered":"A new view of God"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is the “God of our fathers” — that is, the God in which our ancestors believed — able and equipped to serve humanity in the 21st Century…or do we need a “new God”? That is the question that events of our time places before our species.
\n= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
\nNOTE: Saturday is Prose & Poetry Day here on the blog, a time to take a moment once a week to relax the mind, open the heart, and access the soul through the gift of prose from one of the many books of The New Spirituality, and through the poetry of m. Claire, author of the forthcoming volume, Silent Sacred Holy Deeply: Heart.<\/em>
\nFor this week’s prose we offer…the first in a series of excerpts from Tomorrow’s God<\/em>…
\n= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = <\/strong>
\nChapter One
\nTHE GREATEST BLASPHEMY
\nWe need a new God.<\/p>\n

I know.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No. I\u2019m serious. We need a new God. The old God isn\u2019t working anymore.<\/p>\n

The old one never worked.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some people think it did.<\/p>\n

They were not looking at the world around them. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They weren\u2019t?<\/p>\n

Not honestly. Not comprehensively. They were seeing only what they wanted to see.
\nThey were not seeing the cruelty and the fighting and the killing that was going on in God\u2019s name. They were not seeing the separation and the oppression and the fear and the utter dysfunction. Or, worse yet, they were seeing it and they played into it. They used it as a means of controlling the people.
\nIn truth the old God, Yesterday\u2019s God, might have made individual lives work here and there\u2014perhaps even many of them\u2014but that God was never able to create a just society or a joyful, harmonious civilization, to say nothing of a peaceful world. And that God can\u2019t do that even today.
\nEven today, with all your powers of instant communication and total connection and advanced comprehension and increased awareness and sophisticated technology and marvelous miracles, you can\u2019t produce the simple, humble experience for which humanity has yearned from the beginning of time.
\nYou can\u2019t produce peace. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I know.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t produce lasting joy. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I know.<\/p>\n

And the God in whom you believe can\u2019t, either.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why? Why? Why can\u2019t all the best efforts of humanity and all the help we\u2019ve begged for, and received from God, produce this result?<\/p>\n

Because the God in whom you believe isn\u2019t real. The God in whom you believe is made up. It is a God you created out of thin air, having nothing to do with Ultimate Reality<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

.
\nWell, there\u2019s a challenging thought. That\u2019s just about the greatest blasphemy<\/p>\n

.
\nAll great truth begins as blasphemy.
\nThe time to challenge your most sacred beliefs is at hand. If you don\u2019t challenge your beliefs soon, your beliefs are going to challenge you.
\nThis book is meant to be challenging.
\nThis book is meant to save the world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Will it?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s up to the world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why? Why isn\u2019t it up to you? If you\u2019re God, why isn\u2019t it up to you?<\/p>\n

Because my function is not to save the world. My function is to create it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And after you create it, you don\u2019t care what happens?<\/p>\n

I care what happens as much as you do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No, you don\u2019t. If you care what happens as much as we do, you won\u2019t let the world destroy itself.<\/p>\n

You mean if I care what happens more <\/em>than you do. If I care what happens as much <\/em>as you do, I will let the world destroy itself, because that\u2019s exactly what you are doing.
\nSince I care only as much as you do, the world in which you live may very well be destroyed. At the very least, life as you now know it could be irrevocably altered. And if that\u2019s what happens, I will let it happen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why? Why won\u2019t you do something to stop it?<\/p>\n

Because you won\u2019t. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We can\u2019t. You can. You\u2019re God. You can do what humans cannot.<\/p>\n

Your statement is inaccurate. I can, and YOU can. But I will not, unless you do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why not? What kind of a God are you?<\/p>\n

The best kind there is. The only kind there is. The kind who gives you free will, and who will never, ever interfere with that. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not even to save us from ourselves?<\/p>\n

If I saved you from yourselves, then you wouldn\u2019t BE \u201cyourselves,\u201d but only a slave to me. You would not have free will. Your will would be free only until you did something that I did not want you to do. Then, I would stop the exercise of your free will and make you do what I want you to do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course you would. If you were half the God that humans think you are, you would stop us from destroying ourselves. You would do what is best for us. You would make us do what is best for us.<\/p>\n

By whose assessment, and by whose definition?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What?<\/p>\n

\u201cBest\u201d by whose assessment, and \u201cus\u201d by whose definition? <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By yours. By your assessment. By your definition. You would define what is meant by the term \u201cus,\u201d you would decide what is \u201cbest\u201d for us, and then you would make what is \u201cbest\u201d happen for all of \u201cus.\u201d We depend on you to do this. That\u2019s what God is for.<\/p>\n

Really? Is that what you think?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Next Saturday, installment #2 from Tomorrow’s God<\/em>.)
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\nThis week’s gift of poetry<\/strong><\/em>
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\nWe wake this morning empty,
\nyes?
\nAs if the cup that stands
\nin the Solar Plexus
\nwas tipped
\nin the Night
\nwhile
\nwe slept.
\nAnd we rise this morning praying,
\nyes?
\nThat as the day unfolds
\nThis Love will
\ncome to fill Us
\nwhile
\nwe Live.
\nAnd these words appear before Us,
\nyes?
\nAs if the cup we spoke of
\nhas become The Chalice
\nheld in the hands
\nof God.
\nAs if what has been tipped
\nwas never emptied
\nand
\ntherefore
\nnever lost.
\n*
\nAnd these words appear before Us,
\nyes?
\n(Exalted – m. claire – copyright 2007 – all rights reserved)
\nFor more of the work of this new poetic voice you are invited to visit www.mclairepoet.com.
\n= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
\nIf you liked Conversations with God<\/em> you are going to love Happier Than God<\/em>, the newest
\nbook from Neale Donald Walsch. Described as “a Master’s Guide to Spiritual Awakening,”
\nthis extraordinary new work has just been released and is available now. Click on the
\nHappier Than God icon at the right of this blog page for more info, and enjoy the most
\nempowering book you have read since CWG-Book 1!
\n= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is the “God of our fathers” — that is, the God in which our ancestors believed — able and equipped to serve humanity in the 21st Century…or do we need a “new God”? That is the question that events of our time places before our species. = = = = = = = = =…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-words-from-conversations-with-god"],"yoast_head":"\nA new view of God - Conversations with God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A new view of God - Conversations with God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Is the “God of our fathers” — that is, the God in which our ancestors believed — able and equipped to serve humanity in the 21st Century…or do we need a “new God”? 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