{"id":8764,"date":"2015-08-16T12:05:57","date_gmt":"2015-08-16T16:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/?p=8764"},"modified":"2015-08-19T13:17:42","modified_gmt":"2015-08-19T17:17:42","slug":"god-says-we-must-beg-gods-forgiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/?p=8764","title":{"rendered":"We’ve been told that…
GOD SAYS WE MUST
BEG GOD’S FORGIVENESS"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: I am excited to be able to use this space on the Internet as a place in which we can join together to ignite a worldwide exploration of some of the most revolutionary theological ideas to come along in a long time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ideas I intend to use this space for in the immediate future are the ideas found in\u00a0GOD\u2019S MESSAGE TO THE WORLD:\u00a0You\u2019ve Got Me All Wrong. \u00a0<\/em>I believe this new book (published last October\u00a0by Rainbow Ridge Books) places before our species some of the most important \u201cWhat if\u201d questions that could be contemplated by contemporary society.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The questions are important because they invite us to ponder some of the most self-damaging ideas about God ever embraced by our species. \u00a0For example, the statement that\u2026<\/strong>God’s forgiveness is required for us to get into heaven.<\/span><\/p>\n

Having used the criterion described in the last installment here (namely, that God decides what is “right” and “wrong”)\u00a0as a measure of whether an action or choice is right or wrong, but not wanting to admit that they have used it\u2014and, worse yet, having no idea of what they are actually trying to do during their time upon the earth\u2014many human beings are understandably worried about how God will judge them in light of what they are certain is a long list of transgressions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Billions of humans find comfort, however, in the assurance of many religions that God will forgive even the worst offenses. A notable notion in the Jewish tradition is teshuva: the ability to repent and be forgiven by God. In Catholic doctrine, we are told about the sacrament of Confession. Other religions, as well, teach that God will forgive us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Under certain conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n

The trick is to know what the conditions are . . . and then, of course, to meet them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Humans have turned to religion to tell them what those conditions are, yet what makes this tricky is that the conditions appear to shift from religion to religion. It has therefore become a matter of extreme importance and no little urgency to billions of people that they discover and belong to the right religion.<\/span><\/p>\n

A mistake here could be monumentally hellish.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now comes The Great What If . . .<\/span><\/p>\n

What if God will never forgive us for anything? What if God considers the whole concept of forgiveness unnecessary?<\/span><\/p>\n

Would it make a difference? Does it matter? In the overall scheme of things, would it have any significant impact in our planetary experience?<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes. Of course it would. Forgiveness is one of the lynchpins of all faith traditions\u2014and thus, of the moral code of most of human society. If forgiveness is out of place in human affairs (to say nothing of the affairs of God), then how can human beings ever expect to evolve beyond resentment and revenge?<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, for all the emphasis placed by religion on forgiveness as a tool of healing and restoration, such evolutionary advancement has not been grandly evidenced. Indeed, in some respects our species seems to have devolved, not evolved. Resentment and revenge seem to mar the collective human experience today more than ever. Often, in fact, they dominate it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Day after day, week after week, month after month the world\u2019s headlines are filled with stories of war, revolt, violent government crackdowns, individual hate crimes, shocking mass murders, jealous rages, vengeful lawsuits, vitriolic politics, hurtful break-ups, heartless cruelty, rancorous outbursts, and bitter behavior.<\/span><\/p>\n

It seems clear that simple forgiveness is not stemming the tide. Something else, something more powerful, is going to be needed to halt the growing use of violence as a tool in the resolution of grievances and the curbing of the apparently insatiable human appetite for retribution.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet how can we be expected to rein in our desire for retribution and revenge when we are surrounded by religions whose very creed declares: Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord . . . ? Are we to restrain ourselves in ways that God Himself does not?<\/span><\/p>\n

Would humanity\u2019s penchant for holding resentment and seeking revenge change if we were told that God never forgives us for anything, because God sees no need for forgiveness\u2014and if it was explained why?<\/span><\/p>\n

I think the answer to that question is obvious.<\/span><\/p>\n

God has been telling us from the very beginning, and it is becoming more clear to us every day, that humanity\u2019s Ancient Cultural Story about forgiveness is simply inaccurate.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is okay now to remove this ancient teaching from our current story, and to stop telling this to ourselves and to our children.<\/span><\/p>\n

As we explore what has been revealed about this, we begin to see several previous elements of the total narrative offered on these pages creating a logic line that helps us to understand why God would send humanity the five-word message on the cover of this book: \u201cYou\u2019ve got me all wrong.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

We are invited now to notice that while forgiveness can be a wonderful tool during the time that one is residing at normally experienced human levels of consciousness, it can actually be an obstacle to one\u2019s spiritual development.<\/span><\/p>\n

As soon as one wishes to rise above the most commonly experienced human levels of consciousness to a place of higher consciousness or grander awareness, the idea of \u201cforgiveness\u201d as a tool of growth and healing falls away almost at once. \u201cUnderstanding\u201d becomes the most effective and powerful tool.<\/span><\/p>\n

God has told us: Understanding replaces forgiveness in the mind of the Master.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our soul knows\u2014and it has reminded us here\u2014that we are each an Aspect and an Individuation of Divinity. Because this is true, our soul cannot be, and has never been, hurt, damaged, or injured in any way. So, we never have to forgive anyone for anything, as each experience in our life has done nothing but move us forward on our soul\u2019s evolutionary journey. Thus, every experience is a cause for gratitude and celebration.<\/span><\/p>\n

And there is another reason that forgiveness is unnecessary.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since we are all collaborators in the producing of our outward experience, none of us can be a victim, in the spiritual sense, in the story we are collectively co-creating. It may seem, in the human sense, that we are, but as our mind embraces the wisdom of our soul, we realize that we are no more the victim of our particular crucifixion than Christ was of his.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the moment that we accept that we are, each of us, individuated expressions of The Divine, we realize as well that nothing can happen to us, and that everything must be happening through us.<\/span><\/p>\n

We see that the whole of our experience on the earth is being co-created by the lot of us, in a collaborative process that serves the agenda of the Whole through the expression and the experience of its individuated parts.<\/span><\/p>\n

We understand fully, as did Christ, why anything and everything has happened in our lives, out of our total comprehension of Who We Are, where we are, and why we are here on the earth, experiencing the realm of physicality.<\/span><\/p>\n

We suddenly know the reason that others have entered our lives in particular ways\u2014ways that we formerly might never have forgiven\u2014because now we are no longer \u201clooking through a glass darkly,\u201d but observing with the eyes of the soul.<\/span><\/p>\n

We know, at last, the soul\u2019s logic and the heavenly purpose in co-creating all that has occurred, is occurring, and ever will be occurring in our lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

To make this clear: our lifetime will provide us with the experiences, events, people, situations, and circumstances ideally and collaboratively created for us by us as pathways to self-realization.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the moment that the mind embraces the soul\u2019s knowing, we will see with startling, stunning clarity that all that has happened\u2014every.single.thing.\u2014has happened not always with our conscious collaborative agreement, but always at our mutual spiritual behest, in order that we might collectively create and encounter conditions allowing us to announce and declare, express and fulfill, experience and become Who We Really Are.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is in these moments that God is \u201cmade flesh, and dwells among us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There is even a third reason that forgiveness is out of place in the experience of those who understand\u2014a reason to which we alluded earlier.<\/span><\/p>\n

I asked before and I ask again: When that sweet little one knocks over the milk reaching in eagerness for the chocolate cake, or when that older brother tries to \u201ccheat\u201d his younger sibling out of an equal share of the cake, do we subject them to endless punishment? Of course not. We understand that children are just exactly that\u2014children, incapable of fully comprehending their actions (or, often, even controlling them).<\/span><\/p>\n

Once again, so that you will not forget: This is how God understands our minds, and it is how we are all invited to understand each other. Not just the children among us, but all of God\u2019s children, whatever their age.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many people continue to insist that God is simply not forgiving of certain transgressions, and it is based on this intractability that we justify our own. Yet Is God not at least as compassionate and understanding with us as we are of our children? And does an eternal God, existing across billions and billions of years, not understand that human beings, with a history that covers not half a breath in the life of the cosmos, truly are children of the universe?<\/span><\/p>\n

Surely, even if there is a need for divine justice in Heaven (as many religions insist), God would take this into account as God calls us to account, no? Even human courts of law declare a person \u201cinnocent\u201d by reason of diminished capacity. Is this too high a standard for our God?<\/span><\/p>\n

So now we ask, with regard to forgiveness: Could it really be possible that we\u2019ve simply gotten God all wrong?<\/span><\/p>\n

What if it is true that there is nothing in the first instance that our species is \u201csupposed\u201d to do or not do, no matter what its \u201cage\u201d in the universe? What if it is true that God is an all powerful\u00a0being\u2014in fact, the Source of all power\u2014who needs and requires nothing from human beings?<\/span><\/p>\n

What if the last thing God needs is to seek some sort of retribution or impose some sort of punishment?<\/span><\/p>\n

What if God desires only for us to be totally happy, fully expressed, and abundantly joyful in the experience of life?<\/span><\/p>\n

And what if God understands that, given our immaturity as a species, we are going to do things along the way that we are going to label mistakes\u2014some of them, egregious mistakes?<\/span><\/p>\n

Or, to put it simply: Could it be that God is at least as kind and caring, compassionate and loving, generous and understanding as our own grandparents?<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps it would serve us all to hold this as our truth: Understanding replaces forgiveness in the mind of the master.<\/span><\/p>\n

The new spiritual outlook of our awakening species invites us to ask: What if we were not children of a Lesser God, but, in fact, children of the Most Gracious, Wonderful, Wise, Generous,\u00a0and Unconditionally Loving God of our imagining?<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the truth of it. This is the Ultimate Reality. Everything else is a story we have made up. God\u2019s forgiveness is not necessary, because God understands all of us\u2014and all of our behaviors\u2014perfectly. And God sees each of us and each of our behaviors as manifestations and demonstrations of life\u2019s evolutionary process.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is nothing to forgive when a full understanding replaces a limited awareness of the process of evolution itself, and when that understanding arises from the deep comprehension that the unity of all life evolving in every form is the ultimate expression of divinity.<\/span><\/p>\n

======================================<\/p>\n

NEALE RESPONDS TO KRISTEN COMMENTS…<\/p>\n

NOTE: Please forgive me for placing this here, but the software here apparently will not allow me to post a response that i just wrote to “Kristen” underneath her Comment below. So I am putting my response to Kristen here, and invite anyone reading this to find her Comment below, first, then read this reply…<\/p>\n

Dear Kristen…I have a bit more time now, so would like to \u201cdialogue\u201d with you here on the messages you have kindly taken the time to send to me. I will publish here, again, your recent comment to me, with replies from me along the way, so that we can have a kind of on-screen \u201cconversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here we go! …<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: Thank you for replying Neale, and for understanding I am not being vindictive.<\/p>\n

NEALE: You are very welcome. No one who honestly and sincerely expresses their point of view here, without rancor, will be, or has ever been, considered by me to be vindictive.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: I am grateful to you, and for you, that you choose to point these matters out, primarily that YOU cannot confirm you channel the one we all identify as God.<\/p>\n

NEALE: That is a kind thing to say, and I would like to elaborate a bit on that point, Kristen. Not only have I made it very clear that I did and do not \u201cchannel\u201d God, I have been equally clear that every human being on the face of the earth has a \u201cdirect line\u201d to God. That is, all of us are having a conversation with God every day of our lives. We are simply calling it something else. God is talking to all of us, in a hundred different ways across a thousand moments during all the years of our life. So, yes, I can confirm\u00a0unequivocally that I do not \u201cchannel\u201d the one we all identify as God. What I do is called \u201cinspired writing.\u201d It is the same process by which Mozart was inspired to create his music, Michelangelo was inspired to produce his art, Shakespeare was inspired to write his extraordinarily insightful plays, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Was inspired to say to the world \u201cI have a dream today,\u201d\u00a0igniting a shift in consciousness among millions of people. No, I am not a \u201cchannel\u201d for God.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: I saw you say this on Oprah many years ago, so I have always known that, as you did with Matt (Lauer on the Today Show), but feel your followers need a reminder of this, especially your new ‘groupies’.<\/p>\n

NEALE: Thank you for the suggestion, Kristen, and rest assured that I will continue to let people know that I am not in any way\u00a0claiming to be a person who \u201cchannels\u201d the one that we call God, but rather, that I feel inspired by God to share what I have shared with the world.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: Look at the titles of your books, and the clear implications in here that you ARE speaking with the one we identify as God, and the chosen God of our countries, our Governments and National Anthems…oops you are American… yours is all about ego! Couldn’t resist, sorry, you are an odd bunch!<\/p>\n

NEALE: Ha! I enjoy your humor, Kristen! But on a serious note,\u00a0let me say this: I do believe that I am\u2013\u2013to use your words \u2013\u2013\u201cspeaking with the one we identify as God.\u201d There is not a single doubt or question in my mind that I am speaking with God. I do this in many ways. Through prayer. Through meditation. Through quiet contemplation. All of us on this planet are speaking
\nwith God everyday of our lives. We are simply calling it something else. This is because we have been culturalizd away from daring to claim that we are having a direct conversation with God. People who say they have been talking to God are called blasphemers, apostates, heretics, and worse. They have been told that they are delusional. They have been told that they are crazy. Yet there is nothing delusional or crazy about God\u2019s greatest promised to humanity: \u201cI am with you always, even unto the end of time.\u201d Nor is there anything delusional or crazy about people who say they have been inspired by God to think, say, or\u00a0do a particular thing. This is exactly what I have claimed has occurred in my life. Nothing more, and nothing less.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: A brief explanation at the top of this site would be great to clarify this, and then I wouldn’t get sent, via intuition, in here to discuss this every time you start a thread that is very Anti God as Judge, or attempts to discredit Him.<\/p>\n

NEALE: Dear Kristen… I do not feel that I am \u201cAnti God\u201d in any sense of the words. In fact, quite to the contrary. I am FOR God! I am God\u2019s biggest booster. I am God\u2019s biggest fan. I said that I do not believe that God has a reason to, or will ever, judge us for anything. God is the supreme being, the Creator and the Source of all power in the universe. God cannot be hurt, damaged, injured, angered, frustrated, or affected negatively in any way whatsoever. Is for this reason that God has never judged, condemned, or punished anyone. And She never will. He simply\u00a0bestows upon us His unconditional love. And She invites us to use the power that He has given us to collaboratively create the reality of our species.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: I literally feel a grab on my arm and see the words Neale in the air! And it\u2019s damn annoying,but my job, I work for God. Please listen to what I have said and take it seriously, I am on the side of all people, and like you, do wish they would stop self-harming and stepping on landmines they have made for themselves.<\/p>\n

NEALE: I am listening, Kristen, and I take seriously everything that anyone shares with me when they are coming from such a place of pure conviction and honest belief. I did not take you lightly, nor do I \u201cwrite you off.\u201d Rather, I am grateful for every\u00a0contribution you make here, as it helps all of us to open our minds and engage in a dialogue that is more than a one sided exposition.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: As you are probably aware, I am an Israelite (as you are)…<\/p>\n

NEALE: I am not sure what this means, Kristen.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: …and a Kabbalist. That is, I study and work with Law, and have been on the Tree ofLife to immortality journey, and I have done my Christ Consciousness papers in Universal Law. These papers are over 500 pages, and if you want to read it, I\u00a0am happy to send you a copy based on trust (its the Rosetta Stone…my retirement fund…I know what it is worth, especially to the Freemasons).<\/p>\n

NEALE: Thank you for this kind offer. I am going to respectfully decline your invitation to read it, as I wish to remain purely within my own experience as an author who puts writings into the world. I would never want to inadvertently use another person\u2019s writings or turns of phrase in anything I am producing. But I hope that you will one day make these writings available to the world, as I believe that humanity benefits enormously from considering all serious discussion and points of view about God and Life, so that each of us may come to our own conclusions and awareness\u00a0about Who We Are, Why We Are Here, and Who and What this Thing Called \u2018God\u201d is!<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: This is where I function from, The Void, the Place of Law, and a position of Chaos overseen by The Source and all the Higher Powers. A brief glimpse at a Tree of Life website, or Wiki will explain this chaos a bit. Its called the Void, and it is sure extra chaotic at the moment.<\/p>\n

NEALE: Thanks. I\u2019ll take a look over there and see what I can find out.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: I think, but do not believe, we are very close to a judgment day, hence my warnings.<\/p>\n

NEALE: This sentence seems to send two messages, so I am not clear what you are wishing to communicate here. You \u201cthink\u201d something, but you do not \u201cbelieve\u201d it? In my own belief system, there is no such thing as Judgment Day. God has no reason to judge us for anything. As I described above, God cannot be hurt or damaged or frustrated or upset in any way. And in God\u2019s eyes, we are like children. We would not punish our children with everlasting damnation, and neither will God do this to her children. He is much more kind, much more loving, and much more understanding than that.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: Many, including you, are breaching many Universal Laws, but the main ones I am concerned about for you are the ones that determine no one is to get between any true God and their followers…<\/p>\n

NEALE: I have always made it clear been I do not wish to \u201cget between\u201d any person and the God in which they believe. In fact, conversations with God makes this very clear when it says: \u201cOurs is not a better way, ours is merely another way.\u201d I encourage\u00a0people to simply compare what they have been told by others with what they feel deep inside of their heart. If the books I have written help them to do that, I am happy\u2013\u2013whether they believe\u00a0what I have written or not.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: …deceiving people into thinking there are are no consequences imposed on us by the Higher Powers, including God and a judge…<\/p>\n

NEALE: I think the difference between you and me, Kristen, is that you think people can be deceived, and I have more faith in the intelligence of the people who are reading my books. I could not \u201cdeceive\u201d them if I wanted to. They are way too smart for that. I believe they are capable of reading what I have written,\u00a0considering what I have offered, and coming to their own conclusions about the truth that resides deep within them concerning God and concerning life. I certainly cannot restrain myself from sharing my own thoughts about these things for fear that I may \u201cdeceive\u201d someone else. Even as you share what is\u00a0true for you, openly and passionately, without fear that you may \u201cdeceive\u201d someone else, so do I.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: …lying about God (any God), and misleading children into believing non-truths.<\/p>\n

NEALE: Sharing a thought or an opinion about God that is different from the views of others is not the same as \u201clying\u201d about God. As for \u201cmisleading children,\u201d I would hope that all parents would exercise their own personal judgment about what they place before their children. If they belief in my material is \u201cmisleading,\u201d they should not allow their children to have access to it. No author in the world could publish a book ever, anywhere, if they had to worry about children being misled by what they have written.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: God is a punishing God. It is unfair and deceptive to teach people otherwise, this can lead them to do things they\u00a0otherwise wouldn’t, even when they know in their heart it is wrong (wrong is also defined Universally, as is evil).<\/p>\n

NEALE: I know that you sincerely believe that God is a punishing God, so I see that we do not share the same understanding about our Deity. However, it is not \u201cunfair\u201d and \u201cdeceptive\u201d to talk with people about a different kind of God. And my experience has been that people who do not believe in a punishing God do not do things that they would otherwise refrain from doing. My experience is quite to the contrary. People who do not believe in a punishing God tend to be kinder, gentler, less judgmental, more tolerant, and more unconditionally loving them people who hold rigid beliefs about a God who punishes us if we simply think\u2013\u2013much less share with others\u2013\u2013nontraditional ideas about the Higher Power of this universe. The universe is not a Dictatorship, nor is it a game of Domination.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: This is Satan\u2019s main trick, done via the Mass Mind of Humanity, by normalizing ‘wrongs.’ Don’t play his stupid pathetic games in his 7,000 year tantrum.<\/p>\n

NEALE: I would feel very served by you, Kristen, if you would explain to me who this being called Satan is. Is it a male? Is it a female? Is it a strange creature without gender? What gave it birth? From what source did this creature emerge? Where did the\u00a0number 7,000 come from? Was that just \u201cmade up,\u201d or is it a factual calculation? In your understanding, what is Satan trying to do? In your understanding, does God allow Satan to do whatever Satan wants? If so, why would God allow such a thing? I think all of our readers here would be wonderfully served if you would\u00a0offer your response to these questions.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: By eating humble pie, what I would like to see is “I, Neale, acknowledge that I have been wrong, and that what I and my so called God state or believe in may well be wrong and incorrect information. It is not my place, nor anyone\u2019s, to tear\u00a0someone\u2019s religion apart and attempt to question everything, and turn people away from their God, nor show such huge disrespect to God and the Higher Powers!”.<\/p>\n

NEALE: Well, I cannot issue such a statement, but I can come close to it. How about this…? \u201cI, Neale, acknowledge\u2013\u2013as I have been doing for 20 years\u2013\u2013I could be wrong about all that I have written regarding God. It could very well be incorrect information, and I will allow each person who encounters my writing to judge\u00a0for themselves whether it resonates with their innermost truth. It is not my place, nor anyone\u2019s, to tear someone\u2019s religion apart, but I will never feel it is wrong to question everything, and I will never stop doing so. And\u00a0I will never stop encouraging others to do so. It is never my hope, my intention, or my desire to turn anyone away from their God, but rather, to bring them closer to their God through the deep exploration of Humanity\u2019s current understandings about our Deity. I am clear that even if a person totally and completely disagrees with what I have said about God, even that will have served the purpose of bringing them closer to God. There is no greater service that my writing could perform. The purpose of my writing is never to show disrespect to God, but just the opposite. And\u2014blasphemy of blasphemies\u2014I think that God understands this perfectly well.\u201d<\/p>\n

I note with interest, Kristen, that you keep referring to \u201cGod and the Higher Powers\u201d as if they were not the same thing. Can you explain this to us?<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: But that aside, anyone who has a basic understanding of psychology will be able to tell you that humble or even normal people, do not ‘give talks’ nor even consider the concept that people would want to pay to see them or hear them speak…<\/p>\n

NEALE: I find this to be an interesting observation, Kristen, as even Jesus thought that it was quite okay to deliver his Sermon on the Mount, and to speak to people in groups large and small throughout his entire lifetime. And, as far as people paying to hear someone speak, the wonderful Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh speaks at workshops and events all over the world where the payment of an admission fee is required. So do many other teachers and messengers, theology professors, and others. You seem to think that if someone pays to hear another offer a talk, that this somehow invalidates the speaker and their message. I join 90% of the people in the world in disagreeing with this assessment.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: …and that the lengthening of a name to include a middle name or initial is an attempt to ‘make themself bigger’ much like driving a bigger car than others, having a bigger house or even going to the gym to bulk up to be bigger…<\/p>\n

NEALE: In that case, the Rev. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the famous Catholic nun Francesca Xavier Cabrini, the late Gordon Bitner Hinckley (president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Mary Baker Eddy (founder of Christian Science), Bishop Rowan Douglas Williams (of the Anglican Church), Sathya Sai Baba, Chimoy Kumar Ghose, and many, many other spiritual teachers, messengers, and writers were likewise attempting to \u201cmake\u00a0themselves bigger\u201d by using a middle name. I don\u2019t believe that for a minute, and it feels to me that your indictment is simplistic in the extreme.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: …actively seeking followers, students or groupies is self-serving and ego based, and communicating with them is a desire to retain them whilst using an exchange of money, selective information and treating them as special is a form of needing to keep your power position above the general population.<\/p>\n

NEALE: I don\u2019t know about groupies, but I do know that every organization from the Catholic Church to the National Organization for Women (NOW) and hundreds in between seek followers and students. So here again, Kristen, we have a massive oversimplification that seeks to tar and feather a person for simply sharing with others more than one at a time. But I have not actively sought what you call \u201cfollowers\u201d\u2013\u2013in fact, I have discouraged anyone from allowing themselves to fall into that category. I have readers around the world, but I do not desire to have any \u201cfollowers.\u201d I happily acknowledge that many people around the world have self-identified as students of the CWG material, and I see nothing wrong with that. In fact, I encourage it. Any viewpoint that has intrigued millions of people across the globe should be studied carefully, it seems to me. It is important to know what people are talking about, and what is capturing their attention. And when thousands of people write letters to me and send me e-mails asking me to help them bettere understand the Conversations with God material, I do not take the position that I cannot respond to their requests for fear of being called \u201cego-based.\u201d I want to gently suggest that your use of name-calling and labeling does not befit you.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: …as is creating a situation of co-dependency, and that anyone paying a professional to take their own photo is vain or ego based.<\/p>\n

NEALE: there you go with name-calling and labeling again. There\u2019s nothing at all unusual in publishers asking their authors for a professionally taken photograph to use on book jackets and in their media materials. The Pope, for Heaven sake, has had his\u00a0picture taken by a professional photographer.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: I understanding many things are compensation for insecurities or people\u2019s past where they have felt inadequate in a way they never want to again, BUT I’m sorry Neale, I would not put the word humble by your name.<\/p>\n

NEALE: And I would never ask you to.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: I\u2019ve studied psychology and reading people for many years. Ha-ha…nice try though! When I see you flying coach, without taggers on, or doing talks and appearances and being Neale the person rather than Neale Donald Walsch, I might\u00a0believe you. Humble is normal.<\/p>\n

NEALE: As it happens, I fly by myself to most of my speaking engagements. Once in a while my wonderful wife accompanies me, but if she\u2019s not with me, I fly alone. There are no \u201ctaggers on,\u201d as anyone who has ever met me on an airplane would tell you. You are correct in assuming that I do not fly coach on flights of more than two hours. Those who sponsor my appearances around the world are kind enough to offer me the comfort of Business Class seats on longer flights, and I am grateful to except their generosity and the comfort that it brings me at age\u00a072, when I take speaking tours that have me on airplanes every third day for anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks running. I don\u2019t feel I need to apologize for that and I am sorry that you feel that it is\u00a0somehow inappropriate.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: I am really concerned for you,. You seem to have no idea of how hugely wrong your books and teachings are, like never seen before, and that the consequences are appropriately huge.<\/p>\n

NEALE: It was George Bernard Shaw who offered the following observation: \u201cAll great truth begins as blasphemy.\u201d I understand that you believe that my books are hugely wrong. It is also possible that they are not. I am willing to have them stand the test of time. And I see no injury in placing before the public books that simply question our prior assumptions about God, about life, about the purpose of our existence, and about each other. In fact, I think that such questioning is healthy, and is the sign of a species that is growing and expanding in it consciousness.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: It isn\u2019t as simple as questioning things, Neale. Scripture teaches us to do exactly that. It is that you are publishing lies and destructive information, clearly implying\u00a0it is from God, when it is all prophecised about as the one Christians call Satan\/He of Lawlessness impersonating God, going blatantly against everything God states.<\/p>\n

NEALE: I think what you mean to say is that my writing is going blatently against everything that someone ELSE says that God states. I find it intriguing to notice that everything we imagine that \u201cGod states\u201d has been placed into the human experience by other human beings. What it is that makes the accuracy of those human beings go without question makes for an interesting discussion.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: I do just wish for you, that you would just call it quits, or I question if you are under duress to keep going. Consequences are far worse than any threats under duress\u00a0could ever be.<\/p>\n

NEALE: I am not under duress of any kind, Kristen, but I thank\u00a0you for your concern. It would be instructive for me to know what these \u201cconsequences\u201d that you continue to refer to might be. Would you be generous enough to enlighten me on this?<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: The answer to your question regarding scriptures is much more complex. For me personally, I literally went through a few different ‘Bibles’, and wrote lists of yes that is God, no that is not God, or unsure. I was only able to do this last year, after\u00a0many years studying, experience with God and knowing God… but all the Scriptures I quoted all indicate the same thing, and that is, many things in all the different books are not of God, but most are.<\/p>\n

NEALE: interestingly, I have always said the same thing. In book after book, in speech after speech, I have made the statement that much of what our religions teach us, that much of what we find in humanity\u2019s Holy Scriptures, is wonderfully beneficial, and no doubt has been inspired directly by God. It would be a mistake to assume that these Scriptures contain all there is to know about our Deity. The mistake that many human beings make is assuming that we now have all the answers about God and about life. This is like a child imagining that because he knows about addition and subtraction, he knows all there is to know about mathematics. Such an assumption would be shortsighted at least, and arrogant at worst. All I have done with my writing is to invite human beings to ask two simple questions: Is it possible that there is something we don’t fully understand about God and about Life, the understanding of which would change everything? Is it possible that there is something we do now know about ourselves and about who we are, the understanding of which would alter our lives forever for the better?<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: In these quotes God is telling us that there are many untruths in Scriptures about Him, so to read and believe carefully. Examples are that I know God does not help those who help themselves as scripture states, but He does help those who serve Him like a normal employer, I know does pay staff their wages the day they work as in my 2nd job when I work for God I earn an extra $100 a day (but only like today when I work for Him…thanks Neale). I know God regrets making humans.<\/p>\n

NEALE: Whoa. Hold it. I don\u2019t know where you got that idea, but I believe that it is now you who are profoundly mistaken. God does not \u201cregret\u201d anything. God is incapable of making a \u201cmistake.\u201d Your suggestion that God regrets anything that God created infers that we are, indeed, \u201cchildren of a lesser God.\u201d I am sorry that you feel this way, and I would be fascinated to know where you got such an idea. Would you care to tell us?<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: I know Abraham became the father of many nations, I know God still executes murderers, I know God HATES cross dressers, including females who dress butch…<\/p>\n

NEALE: I must say that I am finding your views about God almost as interesting as some people find mine. I think the only thing I wonder is what makes you think that your ideas\u2013\u2013some of which I find to be completely outlandish\u2013\u2013\u2013are any more accurate than my own.<\/p>\n

KRISTEN…I know God executes sodomers, but is ok with gay in general, I know many curses and blessings in the OT are in place…<\/p>\n

NEALE: I knew that if we talked long enough we would find at least one place where you at I agree about God. Conversations with God makes it clear that God is, as you put it, \u201cokay\u00a0with gay.\u201d But what, pray tell, is \u201cthe OT\u201d?<\/p>\n

KRISTEN: I know God didn\u2019t say every human thought is evil, nor husbands rule over their wives, nor that Rebekah had a hairy redhead baby, nor that He would have said to Moses “I\u00a0have made you like God, to Pharoah,” as that goes against the Tree of Knowledge information in Genesis and lots of prophecies have not come true, including most of Yeshua\u2019s.<\/p>\n

I do think people will have to spend a lot of time under God, with no priests or churches involved in order to do this, but these papers on God are Tree of Life requirements and assignments when you are at that level. Again, Kabbalah.<\/p>\n

Must trot…cats are hungry, sorry about the typos!<\/p>\n

Take care,<\/p>\n

K<\/p>\n

Xx<\/p>\n

NEALE: Thank you, Kristen, for your willingness to share your views and your understandings here. I observe that each of us\u2013\u2013 all human beings\u2013\u2013have our own thoughts, our own understandings, our own ideas, and our own beliefs about God. Conversations with God<\/em> invites us to take no one\u2019s word for
\nanything, but to go within and seek to find in the deepest part of us the truth that resonates at the heart of our being. We are invited to be our own authority in these matters\u2013\u2013and I think that is very good advice, indeed.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve enjoyed the dialogue, and hope you have too. Every good wish………Yours humbly, Neale.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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