Some of the concepts in this conversation have been shared before by Neal Donald Walsh in his Conversation with God books. Therefore, it makes sense that God’s truth, shared through the lens of Neal Donald Walsh, if it were truly God speaking, would also express similar concepts of the universal truth to me. I don’t claim that my thoughts are original or unique to me but an expression of the Divine Mind.
Curt: Thank you for your conversation about Being. It was very helpful. I know that you spent a lot of time with Neal Donald Walsh helping him write the Conversation with God series. I have read at least four of them – Volume One, twice!
God: Yes, Donald was a unique being that helped get the truth out about who and what I am. Did you like the books you read?
Curt: Yes, I did. Though I found most of the others were a clone of the first volume. They did offer some new information, but mostly a repetition of Volume One.
God: You are not the first person to point that out. Do you have a problem with repetition?
Curt: No, certainly not. I understand that human beings need reinforcement of ideas to help them understand the world around them, particularly their spiritual nature.
God: Okay, repetition is not a bad thing. But as you said, the human mind requires reinforcement to lock in an idea. Life is a journey, and it can be very rocky if you don’t make the best choices. Reinforcement allows the human mind to give preference to values of truth, integrity and possibility. Once they become soul worthy, that is they are locked into the core of the human being, and can become unconscious responses to life’s questions and decisions. So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about today?
Curt: Well, there are many questions, but let me ask you this, “Was Jesus your only begotten son?”
God: Ha! You still don’t get that do you? I’m going to give you a simple answer to that question. Do you remember the movie “Oh, God!” with George Burns playing me?
Curt: Yes, I do – one of my all-time favorite movies!
God: Good, then you will remember the scene in the movie where the character, Jerry, was placed in an unknown hotel room waiting for me (God) to appear and answer the questions that the counsel had prepared to prove if Jerry really did talk to me. I (God) finally appear and look through the questions, coming to, ‘Was Jesus really your son?’ Okay then, do you remember my answer?
Curt: Oh yeah, it was really reinforced. Your response was, “Was Jesus really my son? Yes, Jesus was my son. As was Buddha, Mohammed, Krishna, and the man that charged you $12 dollars for that steak!”
God: Whoever wrote that line for the movie had insight to my nature. Jesus was my son as you are my son. I have universes of sons and daughters.
Curt: Okay, glad to get that cleared up. However, did you use Jesus as atonement for the sins of many?
God: What do you mean by that?
Curt: The standard Christian belief is that you used Jesus as an intermediary or a ransom sacrifice to save humanity for their sins. By his blood, many are saved from their sin and guaranteed heaven. I guess for me, I don’t understand why you would need an intermediary to save humanity. After all, you are God.
God: Are we really going to do this?
Curt: Do what?
God: Is it really necessary to have this discussion?
Curt: I’m sorry, but it is an important discussion to have now in the 21st century to understand the dynamic of our spiritual reality. So, please…
God: Alright, point taken. Short answer, No! Jesus was not used as a ransom for humanities sins. He did not die for your sins, but because of your sins. You can thank St. Augustine for perpetrating the idea of original sin that could only be resolved by a sacrifice and/or ransom as is reported. Your church father Origen in the 3rd century was first to concoct the sacrifice/ransom theory. This, of course, is all part of the Jewish theory that God requires sacrifice to appease his nature. In the colloquial words of your culture, “Bull Pucky.”
Curt: Really? Bull Pucky?
God: Yes, Bull Pucky! A good phrase when nothing else seems to say what you want said. I will say it again. I AM GOD, I don’t need ANYTHING to appease me. There is nothing anyone can do to make me love them more or give them privilege. It’s all been given. It’s melded in the act of creation, and it’s called Grace. Jesus didn’t have to die for it. Rather, He lived for it. No one had to make a sacrifice so that humanity might have Grace. If there is any kind of sacrifice made, it is made by human beings for choosing the spiritual path over the worldly path. Letting go of all things that disrupt the harmony of peace, love, mercy, compassion and justice among the human community.
Curt: But sometimes it feels like I need forgiveness from you for some of the stupid things I do and say.
God: Stupid or not, it is not forgiveness that you need. You should know this by now, I don’t forgive!
Curt: Whoa! Whoa! What?
God: I have no reason to forgive anyone for anything. Forgiveness assumes condemnation and I have condemned NO ONE, in spite of what you might have read in your Old Testament book. Matter of fact, Jeremiah said it best, “God remembers their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34)
Curt: Hmmm, no condemnation. Hadn’t thought of it like that before.
God: There is nothing you can do or say for which I would condemn you…even if I could.
Curt: What about someone like a Hitler, or even a Putin?
God: Well, what about them?
Curt: It seems they practice evil at its highest form! Surely, they must be accountable to condemnation.
God: No, there is no condemnation. I am a God of Love, and I’ll say it again, I condemn NO ONE! Yes, they will be accountable for their choices and have the opportunity to find the path of love and peace – if not in this life incarnation, in the next. They may need to spend some time in seclusion thinking about how they might be a better person next time around, if they choose that.
Curt: So, hell is too good for them?
God: Why O why O why do you Christians choose to want there to be a hell? THERE IS NO HELL! Look, I’ll say it backwards, HELL NO IS THERE! It only exists in the minds of misinformed religious zealots. Nobody goes to hell. NOBODY! What’s on the other side is the opportunity to continue to grow spiritually, in love and grace in honor of your creation. If you need wisdom and understanding in what it is like to be oppressed, very poor, and/or live in bigotry and prejudice, you can choose another incarnation to find out what that is like. Your opportunity for spiritual growth does not change with your transition to what you call, the other side.
Curt: I am a little disappointed that there is no hell because there are people who, I believe, need to experience the eternal fire and pay the eternal price for their social and political abuse. However, I think I understand why there is no hell and in one sense, I’m glad there is not. I would expect no less from the Creator of the Universes. It’s all about the universality of Love and how we humans connect with one another to make it so. As you said earlier, we all share the same DNA and are brothers and sisters in the grand scale of Creation.
God: Yes, it’s really a very simple concept, I don’t know why the minds of men need to construct elaborate theories and build dogma to find me. It is ludicrous. Once you have an idea or a concept and write it down, you have limited the scope of that concept. And yes, I understand that writing it down aids repetition so a concept or idea can be held in thought and mind. I can be found in the very core of one’s being. The writer of the “Gospel” of Luke said it as plainly as it can be said, “The kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21) Your DNA is my DNA. We are one and the same. Did not Jesus, in the Gospel of John, say, “I and the Father are One?”
Curt: Yes, I understand that. However, many of your Christians do not. They think you are very separate from them. You are a supernatural being that allows Jesus to live in their hearts and at the same time claiming that Jesus is God.
God: Therein is the problem, isn’t it? Humanity still does not understand my nature. I am not a being, super or otherwise. Theologian Paul Tillich said it best that I was the “Ground of Being” and that still limits who and what I AM. I AM the very essence of all that is. EVERYTHING that exists living or not breathes my essence. Yes, even rocks! Creation bears my thumbprint throughout all the universes. Yes, plural. Your cosmic scientists and philosophers are beginning to realize that you earthlings are not the only sentient beings in the universe, let alone the many universes.
Curt: I have no problem believing that. Though, I’m sure there are those that would have issue with that.
God: Fodder for another time, maybe. So let it be.
