Ok, before I start, I need to apologize to Matthew Fox for the butcher job I will probably do to his book.
When I was a camp counselor back in the late 80's, I read a book that changed the way I would look at God. That book was Original Blessing by Matthew Fox.
I met Fox once, and when I met him, I said, "I needed to meet the person the Pope silenced." He said, "Ah, my papally initiated 'vacation.'"
I really don't see what was so bad about the book and what would get the Pope so irked other than the fact that Fox cannot reconcile a loving God with the vindictive teaching of original sin.
Simply put: A God who would create a beautiful, blessing filled world for us is not a God who would then damn us to Hell. It just doesn't make sense. I agree, it doesn't make sense. A God who loves us and wants what is best for us does make sense. So instead of starting with a hateful, vindictive God, I choose to start with an all loving God.
If you approach the Bible from the perspective of a loving God and not that of a hateful God, things appear much different. God works to bring out the best in us, God's creation. The creator does not hate the creation. So many people portray God as if God hates us. They may say God loves us, but they do not bear that out with their words or actions.
Maybe if people would believe the Bible they profess. God is the loving God who crafted this universe over millions (Yes, millions) of years for us. If we could come to this understanding, then there really might be a paradise here on earth.
1 comment:
Your next to last paragraph is the key, Benton! It is the litmus test for true followers of Christ, members of his body via the *New* Covenant (Testament).
Not to go all "biblical" on you, but these verses from I John 4 are significant to the point:
"In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because he first loved us. If any one says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also."
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