My Second Conversation With GodA Story by Chris McGrath Seeming to awaken from a coma, I encountered what could only have been God...
My last mission in Vietnam went horribly wrong. We were ambushed and
scattered. I was lost for what I was told eight weeks. My first memory
of regaining consciousness was in a hospital room in the Naval hospital at Cam Rahn Bay. There was an apparition silhouetted by the bright light shining through my window. It looked like a bearded young man. It turned toward me and seemed to change into a beautiful woman. I was so confused and my heard hurt. I struggled to ask a question...
Are you a man or a woman? GOD: Yes
Did you write the Bible? GOD: No!
Did you tell the authors what to write? GOD: No!
Did you actually communicate with any of them? GOD: Yes, I was frequently misquoted!
What?! How could anyone dare misquote You? GOD: Am I that threatening?
When I meet people of power, I do feel threatened or awestruck… GOD: That is a mistake on your part. Faith is the opposite of fear.
Are the Jews your chosen people? GOD: People are my chosen ones.
But the Bible says you told Abraham he was chosen!? GOD: Wasn’t he human?
Didn’t you tell the people of Israel that no army could stand before them as long as they carried your ark of the covenant before them? GOD: Do you believe in me?
Yes… GOD: Do you believe I created all things?
Yes… GOD: Then why do you choose to believe that I would conspire with one set of my humans against another?
But the Bible says so… GOD: Are you familiar with the term “gross manipulation of the truth?” ? Doesn’t that book seem to have been written in a way that is particularly self-serving to the very same people who claim I have written it through them? Come on; use the intellect I gave you. How could the questioning of the sixties have ended with government?
So none of it really happened? GOD: Not as written…
How are we supposed to know what you want? GOD: I’ve given you intellect with which you can figure it out.
Are we the only intelligence in the Universe? GOD: Do you really think I created all of this just to decorate your night sky?
Why did you create evil? GOD: I didn’t… you did.
Huh? GOD: I created infinite possibilities for you. I told many of your forbearers that I would take care of them. They chose to take what they could for themselves rather than to trust each other or Me. They chose to attend to fear rather than to faith. Your choices historically have been to allow a little evil to ease a little fear, thus creating evil…
We can’t create anything. Only you can do that. GOD: I told you; I only created infinite possibilities. What you make of them is of your own choosing. I gave you the power to create an infinite number of variations on the common clay, which I created for you. It is too easy to think that you can’t create, too convenient, too. It means you don’t have to take responsibility for any of the evil you have wrought. Unfortunately for all of you, nothing is further from the truth.
What about Satan? GOD: Who?
You know: The prince of darkness, the evil one… Why did you create him? GOD: This is a perfect example of human creation. There is no devil beyond the one you’ve conjured up. I keep watching you and I’m fascinated how few of you figure this out and appalled by what they do with the knowledge. They have consistently used it to hold dominion over other humans who are only too willing to yield to any fear that terrorizes them.
I don’t understand… GOD: From the time I imbued man with self-awareness, along with it came the internal knowledge of my existence. When the Earth was young, humans were separated by what was at the time unfathomable distances. Don’t you find it curious that each individual culture universally adopted some form of religious creed? Primitive man of three thousand years ago lacked the capacity to grasp the concepts of the reality of Quantum Physics. Yet he grappled with trying to articulate this inner knowledge in a way that made sense to him. Those who enjoyed some success in their struggles became “preachers” of this understanding. When they told others of their beliefs, the message resonated with them, because they all have the same internal knowledge of my existence, and the “preachers” became important within their cultures. First because they struck such a resonant chord that everyone thought them divinely inspired. Later, after realizing how much power they held over the masses, they codified their vision into a creed, or religion. The code was built on whatever tale they invented to try to explain Me. The code inevitable mutated to something that guaranteed the preacher an elevated position in the community and a certain amount of power over its citizens. Most Shamans were easily enamored of their elevated position and motivated to sustain it. If the populace resisted the rules of the ministry of the priest, he would tell more stories of My greatness. If that didn’t work he would resort to creating terrible stories of My wrath and what happened to people who defied Me. In some cultures this took on various personifications like Beelzebub or some other terrifying deamonization. These manifestations are horribly cruel. Search your heart and ask yourself if I would create such things. The monks who created them have used human fear as a weapon to keep you under their control.
I have so many questions about all of that. I don’t know where to begin. GOD: Don’t apologize to me. For me, time is relative. For you, there is a fixed amount.
I’ll just go back to my list for now… Was Jesus your son? GOD: Of course he was, and is.
So, all of those miracles really happened? GOD: Haven’t you been listening?
I’m sorry, I don’t understand… again… GOD: Jesus has a great understanding of Me. Everyone who knew him was enlightened by his words and deeds. His message was simple. It is basically what I am telling you now. It is up to you to take care of each other while you are here. This world is a gift for you to enjoy. Jesus, Siddarth and Mohammed all told you this. You are to love and care for each other. If you give in to fear and loose your faith, you are choosing to ignore me.
Didn’t Jesus die to atone your wrath over original sin? GOD: Do you believe that I condone or want human sacrifices? Once again I ask you to search for the part of me that lives forever inside you. Search your soul and tell me if you think this could be true.
No… It doesn’t make sense. GOD: No it doesn’t and if it doesn’t make sense to you, how could you possibly think it makes sense to Me?
I have no answer and no excuses. It is very hard to figure out since I’ve been told that the bible is divinely inspired. Today we use the word Gospel synonymously with unquestionable truth. How can you expect any of us to know any different. GOD: Who told you it was written by Me?
My mother and father, priests, society… GOD: I didn’t hear Me in that list…
This is the first time you’ve ever spoken to me. GOD: No it isn’t. This is the first time I’ve spoken to you from the outside in. I live inside you. I am a part of you, as I am a part of all creation. You are made of me. Didn’t you ever wonder what I created the universe out of?
Actually, I had, but I didn’t spend too much energy on it. I assumed I could never fathom it anyway. GOD: Exactly! You should have asked Me. If, before I created the universe, there was nothing but Me, what could I have created the universe out of?
You? GOD: Now that wasn’t hard, was it?
No… Does everything just make sense like that? GOD: You mean if something has the ring of truth is it true?
Yes… I guess… GOD: It depends on how well you can listen to me…
You mean when you’re talking from inside me? GOD: Yes!
Can some people hear you better than others? GOD: Definitely!
That doesn’t seem quite fair. GOD: Does unfairness from me resonate as true or false to you?
False. GOD: Then ask for understanding.
OK. GOD: Do it now.
How? GOD: Just try to figure it out. Keep it simple.
OK. Please help me to understand why some people can hear you better than others. GOD: There. That was your first prayer. Some people have asked to hear me, and have tried hard to listen and understand. They are the ones who can hear me best.
Wait… OK I get the thing about who hears you best, but that wasn’t my first prayer… GOD: Wasn’t it?
No, I used to say prayers as a kid all the time. GOD: There is a huge difference between praying and reciting memorized bits of ancient poetry. A few minutes ago, you requested my help in understanding and I gave it to you. That was a prayer and a fulfillment. Reciting flowery words written centuries ago to praise me is the kind of silliness that I would have thought anyone would have abandoned after one chorus. And by the way, doesn’t it seem to you a little pompous of you to think I want or need your praise? I’m not a pet that needs reassurance by expressions of your approval.
What DO you need? GOD: A better question would be “What do I want?” or better still “What do I want from YOU?”
OK, I think I’m catching on… Please help me to understand what you want in general and more specifically what you want from me. GOD: You’re getting good at this. Prayer number two was very good. What I want is for humans to figure me out. I’ve given all of you what you need to do it, but you keep following the guidance of the power mongers who lead you by feeding on your fears. This leaves you deaf to Me. You must seek Me out and engage Me if you want My help and guidance. I want to gain some respect for you. Physically, I am made of pure energy. Metaphorically, I am made of pure love. The greatest difference between us is that I have no reason to fear anything. What you do in the face of your fears either feeds me or wears me down. I have no need of courage, but I admire it greatly in humans. Humans looking for me within themselves will find me. Once they find me, they can wield Me as a weapon against those who would control them, and use their knowledge of Me to control others. Or, they can simply love Me back by doing the things that feed Me rather than the things that erode or diminish Me. By trying to control others through threats of excommunication or eternal damnation, you disappoint Me. You are bettering yourself by exploiting the fears of those who haven’t as yet found Me in themselves. It takes much more courage to put yourself at risk while performing random acts of kindness for others.
… and specifically from me? GOD: yes.
Ah, I see. What You want from me is the same thing You want from everyone else? GOD: of course…
So, why did You contact me “from the outside in?” GOD: You asked.
You said I hadn’t prayed before today. GOD: I wouldn’t call what you did a prayer. It was more of a petition of frustration spoken to yourself in a moment of rage and confusion.
And that is why you are talking to me? Do you speak this way to everyone who reaches out to you? GOD: Yes. No.
Please help me understand why you are talking to me. GOD: Think of it as a random act of kindness.
Please, I still don’t understand. GOD: Why do you try so hard to say yes to people who ask you for help?
I don’t know. It somehow makes me feel … whole, wholesome, fulfilled… GOD: Yes, that’s a good explanation. That will do.
I still don’t understand. GOD: Yes, you do. Remember: I am Love. I admire courage. I am fulfilled by your giving love. I fulfill you by giving you love. You needed this.
Everyone needs this. GOD: Yes, We do.
No, I mean all of us humans would love some contact with You. GOD: I know what you mean. Remember I am within everyone you meet: the ones you love, the ones you hate, the ones upon whom you cast your indifference.
This is frustrating. You are making Your point, but I still want to know why You don’t talk with everyone from the outside in? GOD: That is complicated.
Please help me to understand. GOD: Alright. If I spoke directly to everyone, do you think they would feel free to make their own decisions about what kind of person they choose to be? I created this universe to incubate life forms and observe the decisions they make independent of contact with me. Prayer is like a lifeline to give you comfort when you need it. You only need to believe in Me. If you do, you are comforted. If you don’t you succumb to fear and turn away from Me. So many wonderful things have come out of creation that I never would have experienced without it. Free will is an integral part of it. It would have been cruel to give you self-awareness without the inherent knowledge that I exist and that I am always with you.
OK, so why are you telling this to me? Please help me understand. GOD: You have made all of your decisions already.
… … … Am I dead? GOD: I haven’t decided.
I’m not ready… GOD: No one ever is…
Even suicides? GOD: Especially not suicides…
Please help me understand. GOD: Suicide is committed by those who have never come to grips with decisions that must be made. They devolve into an abyss of despair. Suicide is an act of escaping the despair, the ultimate surrender to fear. Unfortunately it costs them the gift of life.
I’m sorry… I can’t concentrate. I need to know… Please help me understand whether I am dead or not. GOD: You are not dead.
Will I be? GOD: Yes.
Please comfort me by telling me whether I have any life left on Earth. GOD: Unlike what humans choose to believe about me, I don’t know the future. I created the universe based on probability so that I wouldn’t know the future. Would you like to go into a theater already knowing the end of each movie before you see it? It isn’t very stimulating. Some things I choose not to know and others I defer decisions on until I’m ready to make them. I need to have seen enough. I’ve seen enough of you to know your fate, but that doesn’t mean your physical life is over. Recognize that when you return to life as you know it, you are susceptible to changing your fate as I would decide it now.
So, by saying that you aren’t ready to decide, you mean that I’m still alive? GOD: Yes. And you are saying in the urgency of your questions that life is still precious to you. You hold my gift in high regard and you are willing to risk the quality of your eternity on how you handle the remainder of your life on your return.
Yes. I think so… You seem to be alluding to whether I will deserve Heaven or Hell… Please help me understand more fully what you mean. GOD: I hate to disappoint you, but what humanity calls Heaven is all around you. It is everywhere I am, and I am everywhere. From primitive humans to the “civilizations” of today man has needed to think of the afterlife as binary: good and bad, carrot and stick. Heaven is therefore portrayed as streets of gold, rivers of milk and honey, pearly gates, etc.
What about Hell? GOD: Can’t you figure that out for yourself? All right, but this is the last time I lead you by the hand. My message to you is that I’ve given you all you need to figure this out with confidence. In order to do so you must actively use the tools I’ve given you. After this answer, you must speculate and I will comment. Hell is your creation, not Mine. You could have figured this out from what I’ve told you already. I am pure Love. To create such a place would be counter to everything I care about. I told you already that there is no devil. Angels can’t fall from Me. Like you, they are a part of Me. You were born with self-awareness and knowledge of your imminent death. I created angels from part of Me before I created solid matter from a part of Me. There were no rules of the universe. There was no time. They all have complete infused knowledge at the instant of their creation. They also share an inherent need to love. Search within yourself and you will see that the notion of Hell was created by power-crazed humans who needed the promise of eternal damnation, when the promise of eternity in Heaven failed to adequately control their flocks. They brokered fear for control and power. They added nothing to society and helped plunge western man into the dark ages of mysticism and witch-hunts. All perpetrated in the name of Jesus. All Jesus ever did was teach kindness, love, contrition, forgiveness. He threatened, not the Romans, but the established structure of the church of the day. They murdered him in the cruelest of ways, and his followers established an even bigger church than the one Jesus worked to expose. When the magnitude of Jesus’ goodness was insufficient to convert more followers, they wrote fantastic stories of Jesus’ life, mixing in miracles with his good works and teachings and thereby diminishing the true message forever.
When I return to some state of normal, will I remember all of this? GOD: What would you do with this information if I let you remember it?
I would tell as many people as I could what your true nature is. GOD: They already know.
I didn’t… GOD: Yes you did. I’ve only filled in the gaps and details that are unimportant. You could have figured all of this out for yourself. You have faith in Me. You’ve known enough to live your life accordingly. If you were to remember all of this and you told people you would be laughed at. If taken seriously you would be dealt with as the serious threat that you pose to organized Churches and Governments. I don’t need another martyr.
I know I wasn’t as good as I could have been. What was my worst sin? GOD: While you recognized Me within you, you failed to recognize Me in others.
That is so comforting. It would be so reassuring if I could make that change based on what you’ve told me. Won’t I remember anything of this? GOD: You will retain a new confidence in your understanding of existence. You will feel the comfort of my presence stronger than ever before. You will be able to see me in everything around you. You will still have the choice to pay attention or ignore me as everyone has.
How do you feel about humanity? Have we lived up to any of your hopes and expectations? GOD: It’s discouraging how infrequently I’m asked that question in prayer… The collective spirit of mankind is distributed across each individual. Collectively, you could say that I can only be disappointed. I do find many reasons, though to continue to watch the progression of humanity. There are individuals who persevere within the muck that humans have collectively created for themselves. They exhibit courage when confronted by the fears and uncertainties faced by all humanity.
We were born realizing that we will die. Why? GOD: How could I give you intellect and the ability to reason and keep you from figuring out that you were ultimately committed to death?
Why do we have to die? GOD: Technically, you don’t…
Please help me understand that… GOD: First there was Love. Then there was Energy. They are Me. I am infinite. You are a part of Me. You are a part of the Energy that I compressed and slowed down so that it could take physical shape. With physical shape and form come unique experiences that I only enjoy through you. If you were born an angel instead of human, you would never know the pleasures of the flesh, but you would know of them and long for them. If you knew of the freedom of purely spiritual existence, you would long for it and not appreciate the physical pleasures and challenges associated with corporeal existence. If you lived corporeally forever you would never experience the state of rapture that awaits you after transition from your body. Unlike My angels, you will enter this state full of awe. You will appreciate the freedom of your new being so much more for having experienced a lifetime of confinement within the physical universe. If I made you so that you would never die, THAT would be cruel. I have given you the greatest of all gifts: Perspective. If you have everything, and have never known limitations, how can you appreciate anything? Nothing refreshes My Love more than experiencing the joy of the newly transformed as they discover… well, you’ll see eventually…
So, You’re saying that there is no death… only a transition? GOD: I’ve made the laws of the physical universe immutable for reasons that are beyond your comprehension, but not beyond your ability to reason. In order to support the notion of things that are new, room has to be made by the removal of things that are old. What would be the current population of the Earth if there were no death?
I’m sorry, I don’t know… GOD: I DO! As you do, if you give it enough thought…
I’m stumped… How could I possible know how many people have been born since the beginning of Human life on Earth? GOD: The exact amount isn’t critical to answering the question…
I’m sorry, but I can’t see what you’re getting at. Please help me to understand. GOD: No.
That’s it? No further explanation? GOD: I told you the last time that it was the last time I would lead you through understanding. Humans can be so lazy. I’ve given you intellectual powers, so intellect!
So… you want me to speculate and you will comment? GOD: Maybe…
OK… You want me to figure that out too… So we start with the premise that there is no death. GOD: Just for humans or for everything?
OK… Just for Humans… GOD: Are these Humans invulnerable to the rest of the laws of the Universe or just Death?
Just Death. GOD: Death by age or Death by accident?
Age. GOD: So accidental death is OK?
I guess so… GOD: Seems cruel, but go ahead… what about starvation?
Ummm… I guess so… I just think it shouldn’t be predetermined that we MUST die… GOD: OK, so in this new improved world, you don’t age, but you can starve, right?
I guess so… GOD: Good. Guessing is the first step toward discovering Truth…How about Disease?
Does this have to be so complicated? GOD: Seems so…
OK Disease is in… GOD: How about animal attack, drowning, overeating, suicide, murder, neglect, fright…
Wait… maybe we shouldn’t allow death of any kind… GOD: OK, you’re the god. No Death. Just for humans though, right?
Right. That should simplify things… GOD: Really? OK, I’ve got your premise… How do you think things will go?
Fearlessly!!! GOD: Very clever. Your point being that if Faith is the opposite of Fear, this would be the perfect world.
Isn’t it? GOD: You tell me. Take me through how time would progress in such a world.
What do you mean? GOD: You don’t know how to follow your own premise to see how it might unfold, making reasonable assumptions about how things would be different? OK, I’ll ask you some questions… How developed are these humans when they’re born?
They’re infants, no change from the way it is now. GOD: If they don’t age, how do they mature?
OK, they mature for their first 25 years and then stabilize without any further change. GOD: When do they become sexually active?
As soon as they can. Some time between 13 and 16 years old. GOD: Do they marry and have families?
Sure. GOD: Why? They have nothing to fear.
The young need to be nurtured. GOD: Why? They can’t starve. They can’t freeze. They can’t even get sick. They don’t need to be nurtured.
Well, humans want to nurture their young. GOD: Well, it IS your world… I don’t think your logic is very sound, but lets go with it… What else?
People grow; enjoy the world, corporeal pleasures and each other forever. GOD: You think it’s that simple?
Why couldn’t it be? GOD: If people stayed perpetually 25 years old, how many children could they have?
I don’t know… many. GOD: So they could breed forever…
YEAH!! GOD: So after the first 15 years of existence of the first couple, the population would double approximately every year…
Uh… yes. GOD: So, on the original single land mass, before the maturing of the Earth’s crust separated the continents, your humans would be doubling their population approximately every year.
Well, maybe every 18months. GOD: Very good, every 18 months then. The population would grow from 2 to 1,267,650,600,228,229,401,496,703,205,376 in the first 150 years.
How much? GOD: about 1268 trillion, trillion people.
That’s a lot. Are you sure? GOD: Honest to Me…
But in such a short time, humanity wouldn’t have been able to advance at all… GOD: Why would it want to?
What does that mean? GOD: If mankind has nothing to fear, no work needing to be done, nothing to do but breed and be content, what improvements would be needed to stimulate growth? Why would you change anything? What would motivate mankind to invent, imagine, progress? Mankind’s first challenge would be how to fit everyone on that single landmass. If this is the first problem they have to solve, I see a lot of pushing and shoving going on…
You’re telling me that without Death, the population would overrun the Earth in a very brief period? GOD: In a heartbeat.
So the only way this works is the way it already is… GOD: As far as I can see…
So there’s no way we can make it better? GOD: No. There’s no way I can make it better. If the fundamental laws of the universe are tampered with, the balance will be tilted and chaos will result. It is fine the way it is.
Can mankind make it better? GOD: Yes. Now you’re getting it. I’ve given you so many possibilities that you’ve yet to discover. Stop trying to dominate each other and try to help each other. If you collectively unravel the keys to aging and disease, you better have an escape plan because you will kill this planet. Mankind focuses on what threatens it like Death and Disease, instead of looking at the bigger picture.
If we can’t eliminate Death and Disease, can we stop suffering? GOD: Now THAT is a noble purpose. No. We can’t, but you might be able to. You won’t know until you try.
Will the Universe ever end? GOD: Humans haven’t learned enough yet about the physical universe to know that I’ve created it, not temporarily, but as a perfect extension of Me into the physical plane of existence, and therefore, it cannot be destroyed, just as I cannot be unmade. It cannot implode back on itself any more than you could reverse time. I created it to be irreversible. Your decisions and their future consequences are forever cast as permanent facts within the framework of this reality.
Which religion best depicts your true nature? GOD: Religion, once organized by man, is forever owned and operated by man. Each has its own rules of how to worship. I don’t have any rules. There have been many humans who loved me enough to search for answers and to help guide others to share revelations made to them. None of the religions hold much value in the principles they profess so loudly. I love how Siddhartha tried to get people to follow his teachings without worshiping him in his pursuit of the “middle path”. I love how Jesus tried to simplify things down to love and peace. I love Mohammed’s naïve proclamation “I trample under my feet all distinctions between man and man, all hatred between man and man.” The result of their work? Gautama’s church is called Buddhism, a thinly veiled worshiping of him under his pseudonym. Multiple wars were engaged in the Middle East to rescue the land of Jesus from the ravaging of the people who actually lived there until knights of the various crusades slaughtered them. The ignored poverty resulting from the absentia of these noble knights became fertile breeding ground for the black plague, plunging Christianity into 500 years of superstition and nearly the undoing of Western Civilization. Today, followers of Mohammed believe they can assure their entry into a paradise that doesn’t exist by sacrificing themselves in My name while killing scores of innocents. Now how would you feel about organizations established in YOUR name committing such atrocities?
Are you saying that all of the people of the world who attend services in these establishments out of a love for you are to be abandoned by you because they’ve taken a bad path? GOD: Ease up, son. There’s nothing wrong with the people. They are judged by their actions in life, not by which structure they choose for communication with Me. I enjoy those who have sincere communication with Me, and find it easier to do so while surrounded by a group doing the same thing together. These organizations are filled with people who are dedicated to understanding Me and I would never condemn them for worshipping in the best way they know how. There are priests who work so hard trying to help people with their struggles in their secular and spiritual lives. The organization has become more important than what it stands for. It has become a cocoon and sanctuary for perverts and power hungry deviants who instead of finding ways to repent and remediate their own behavior, they use their position of authority to prey on the children and the weak of their followers. They shame me. The churches that harbor them hoard their financial resources while choosing to survive in spiritual bankruptcy.
Ease up, son? Sometimes you don’t sound very God-like… GOD: Haven’t you heard? I have a sense of humor…
I always thought that the pomp and circumstance associated with worship was done out of respect to You. That people who subjugate themselves publicly are making a statement of follow-ship and fellowship. GOD: Ask yourself what use I have for pomp and circumstance. Formal robes and formality in general just serve to distance the clergy from the people they are supposed to serve. It does, however serve to elevate them from the rest of humanity and guarantee that they will be treated with special consideration. It allows people to humble themselves publicly once in a while and frees them to return to their ways of greed and self-preservation at the ultimate expense of others, for whom they have recently professed love and caring.
This is so difficult! I need to go back for a minute to something you said earlier about me. You said that I was good, and… GOD: You ARE good.
But, I KNOW there were times when I was selfish, uncaring, unfeeling. There were times when I knowingly inflicted pain on others. There are so many things that I wish I could “do over”. GOD: What makes you think you would do them better?
Good question… GOD: Thanks. Sometimes I get lucky.
Please don’t tease me. This is SO important to me. GOD: Yes, and therein lies your answer. There is no one among you who wouldn’t in honesty confess what you have confessed. If I had created physical beings to be perfect, life would be a boring exercise. There would be no uncertainty about anything. Some people commit sins against each other and revel at not being caught. Others, like yourself, regret your transgressions forever. Therein lies your commitment to a high level of integrity. I can’t hold humans to the standards of perfection. I haven’t built the universe to accommodate perfection, only balance.
But surely there must be those around me more deserving than I am to get this kind of attention… GOD: surely…
Then WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO ME??? GOD: You asked.
That’s it? All we have to do is ask? GOD: Yes. It’s just that simple.
I know, and know of, so many people who would benefit from this kind of dialogue… GOD: Then talk to them. The needier they are the less likely that they will brand you as a heretic, a maniac, or worse…
NO, I mean a conversation with you. GOD: So do I. You have figured out how to make this happen. Teach other people, but be careful whom you tell about this. You don’t want to be responsible for starting another church, do you?
I can’t see that coming to any good. At least we haven’t been able to make that work to this point in our history. Is this what you WANT me to do? GOD: I only want you to live a good life. Set an example for people. Take care of each other while you’re here and try not to hurt each other.
I’m confused about that. In our bag of sins, murder is by far held as the worst. Yet You say that death is necessary. Accepting that it is true, how can murder be so bad? It seems to me that you are just speeding the individual on his way to a better place. GOD: You can’t always find solace in pure logic. This is not a matter of what is best for any given individual. No one other than that specific individual can decide that. When you take it upon yourself to decide that someone should die and you act to bring this about, you perpetrate an act of cruelty. That act is the opposite of love and it hurts me.
I didn’t know you were vulnerable to hurt. GOD: I love you and all things. How do you feel when two of your friends or two of your children are at odds? How would you feel if one killed the other? If it didn’t hurt me, I would be incapable of love or compassion. I would be indifferent.
Oh, my God, I never realized… Uh, sorry… You must suffer horrible pain every day… GOD: You see it is a human trait to believe that to be all-powerful is to be perfectly content. Humans naturally seek power. They imagine that power gives them a certain immunity to insecurity, that with power comes safety. I have no reason to fear anything, but I have a need to love all things, to grow all things. I have a weak spot for things that the natural order seems to have short-changed. When a being with more comes upon a being with less and renders assistance, I feel enriched. The part of me that is that being swells with good feelings. I don’t do it as a reward, it just happens. When there is an act of wonton cruelty performed, I suffer doubly. The part of me that is the victim is crushed, and the part of me that is the perpetrator is shamed and diminished.
This is going on worldwide. How can you endure the anguish? GOD: It is part of creation. Giving you free will costs me dearly, but if I were to take it away, existence on the physical plane would be pretty much the same as it is on a purely spiritual level. It would lack the stimulation that drives me. I don’t regret creation. There are some wonderful surprises in this complexity. It feels right; not always good, but right.
Thank you. GOD: You’re welcome. Had enough of this intrusion?
I feel mentally stretched, emotionally frayed, and generally exhausted. GOD: Maybe we should stop…
No! Please, I’ve needed this for so long and now it’s happening, I can’t just let go of You. GOD: Yes, time is still precious to you. Life is like a flowing river. It goes at its own pace. No single stretch of the river should be concerned about the final destination, only its own being, and in that you have the key to all lives. It doesn’t matter how near or far the end lies. You don’t really have control and the only part that you can influence at all is here and now.
What do you mean? GOD: Don’t let your anxiousness about knowing turn to anxiety. Learning is more fun than knowing. Ride the river. Enjoy the ride. Lend a hand to your fellow riders, and above all appreciate the gift of life. I will always be with you. You can’t let Me go. The worst you can do is to ignore Me.
Does that mean I can resume this conversation at any time? GOD: Take what you now know, pose a question in your mind, and imagine Me answering it. I’ll take care of the rest…
So, I won’t really hear you anymore? GOD: You’re not “hearing” me now. You have reached a state of meditation that is nearly a self induced coma. You don’t need to do this to communicate with Me. You need to pray in the way I have taught you and trust that the part of Me that is a part of you will answer you if you are listening. For every question, you already know the answer, because I do. Trusting that what occurs to you comes from Me is called Faith.
Does everything that occurs to me come from you? GOD: Not directly, unless you ask directly. Unfortunately, if you’re not careful you will color the answer to what you might want it to be, thus filtering the truth through your own desires.
How can I tell when I’m doing that? GOD: I know you’re tired, so I’ll indulge you. You should know this already. I am truth, kindness, and love. If the answer you think you receive resonates with who I am, you have it right. If it seems contrary to who I am, you obviously have it wrong.
It seems too easy… GOD: Why should it have to be difficult? I only expect humanity to use what I’ve given them. It’s sad that much of humanity would rather use each other. By the way, in continued deference to your exhausted state of mind, I wish to clarify something I said earlier. I said that I respect courage, because it represents resistance to fear which is the opposite of faith. I may have led you to believe that since I have no reason to fear anything that I need no courage. That was true before time and before the creation of this solid universe. In making this universe of parts of myself, I have made those parts vulnerable, as you are vulnerable, and therefore, I have tasted fear through you and the rest of my creations. You’ve asked why I let creation continue when it can cause Me so much pain. The answer is simple. It is My act of courage. It is My faith in My creations that they will triumph over themselves. It is what I expect of you, and the least I expect of Myself. I’m going to let you return to a more usual state of meditation, now. I’m going to let you remember this. Write it down. Read it from time to time to remind you and refresh you. Be very careful with whom you share this. I don’t need another martyr, and I don’t want another religion… I had asked these questions of many priests and never received any substantive answers that made any sense. The answers were so logical and simple. I was lead on a lifetime quest to understand the sources of religions and how they have been used as fulcrums to launch people into senseless wars in the name of God. THAT is the only true blasphemy I know. © 2014 Chris McGrathFeatured ReviewReviews
|
Stats
1363 Views
10 Reviews  Shelved in 3 Libraries
Added on August 26, 2014Last Updated on August 26, 2014 Tags: Vietnam, PTSD, Near Death Experiences Author
Chris McGrathHenderson, NVAboutEclectic Linguist Code Breaker - NSA Recently Published - Remote Control more..Writing
Related WritingPeople who liked this story also liked..
|
![[send message]](https://www.writerscafe.org/images/mail.png){kind=small}
![[befriend]](https://www.writerscafe.org/images/friend.png){kind=small}
Share This
Email
Facebook
Twitter
Read Request
My Library
Flag Writing
