{"id":8808,"date":"2015-09-30T10:13:35","date_gmt":"2015-09-30T14:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/?p=8808"},"modified":"2015-09-30T10:13:35","modified_gmt":"2015-09-30T14:13:35","slug":"globally-important-informationmajor-secret-revealedgod-is-on-our-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/?p=8808","title":{"rendered":"<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Globally Important Information<BR><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">MAJOR SECRET REVEALED:<BR>GOD IS ON OUR SIDE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>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<p><strong>The ideas I intend to use this space for in the immediate future are the ideas found in\u00a0GOD\u2019S MESSAGE TO THE WORLD:\u00a0<em>You\u2019ve Got Me All Wrong. \u00a0<\/em>I believe this book (published by 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<p><strong>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\u2026God<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>is on our side.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">One of the most common ideas about God is that God is on our side. God is in our corner. God grants <em>us <\/em>favors because we are in <em>God\u2019s<\/em> favor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We have told ourselves that when we go to war, God is on our side. When we kill thousands of people in acts of terrorism, God is on our side. When we struggle to make our religion the dominant religion across the face of the earth, God is on our side. When we create a new country, God is on our side. When we attempt to tear apart an old country, God is on our side. When we launch a social, political, or economic revolution, God is on our side.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And especially when we seek to defend ourselves, God is on our side\u2014which is why all attack is called a defense. Have you ever noticed that? Nobody ever says they are attacking anybody. All attacks are called defensive, and are thusly justified.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">God is on our side in positive matters, too. We\u2019ve told ourselves that we were successful in an election campaign because God is on our side. We landed that huge contract because God is on our side. We got to the wedding on time, even though there was a huge traffic jam, because God is on our side.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Wait, it gets even more trivial than that. We kicked the winning goal in the World Cup because God is on our side. We hit the home run in the bottom of the ninth because God is on our side.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(We round first and head to second pointing a victorious index finger to the sky to let everyone <em>know <\/em>that God is responsible for the feat. We drop to one knee and make the Sign of the Cross after catching a touchdown pass to make it clear that we praise and thank God for our success.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">God cares who wins the game. That\u2019s the message, loud and clear. God cares.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">God cares whether the pass in the end zone is complete or incomplete. God cares whether you hit a home run or strike out. God cares whether you get the most votes or do not. God is on your side, not the other side. If God were on the <em>other<\/em> side, <em>they<\/em> would win. If God were on <em>everyone\u2019s <\/em>side, it would be a draw. Every game would end a tie. Every effort would be a stalemate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Fortunately, it isn\u2019t that way. God wants <em>your <\/em>side to win the war. God wants <em>your <\/em>idea to make thousands of dollars. God wants <em>your <\/em>parking space to be there waiting for you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Yes, the message is clear. And each of us can say it without seeing any contradiction. <em>God is on our side.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Now comes The Great <em>What If . . .<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">What if God is not on anybody\u2019s \u201cside\u201d? What if God does not care who \u201cwins,\u201d who \u201closes,\u201d who\u2019s \u201cright,\u201d who\u2019s \u201cwrong.\u201d who \u201csucceeds,\u201d who \u201cfails,\u201d or who does or does not do anything at all?<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">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<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Yes, obviously it would. Right now, billions of people are <em>sure <\/em>that God is on their side\u2014and there could be no more dangerous thought than that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This idea has given rise to more actions that have caused more misery for more people than almost any other single notion. The spiritual arrogance of the idea is ignored by most, who seem to want to sidestep the obvious conclusion that if God is on their side, then God, <em>in fact<\/em>, must not be on the other side. This sets God up as a Deity who chooses winners and losers, declares ideas worthy or unworthy, labels decisions fair or unfair, pronounces countries good or evil, designates religions right or wrong, calls people saved or condemned, and holds all manner of preferences and priorities, proclivities and predilections, penchants and partialities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And, of course, if God is on our side, then God\u2019s preferences and priorities, proclivities and predilections, penchants and partialities all agree with ours.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">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 God being on our side is plainly and simply inaccurate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">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<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It is important to understand that God was not made in the image and likeness of man. It is the other way around. Man is made in the image and likeness of God.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It would be wonderful if this could be placed on billboards around the world:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">God was not made in the image and likeness of Man. It is the other way around.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This means that human beings are divine, each having all the qualities of divinity within them. What it does <em>not <\/em>mean is that God has human qualities. So God does not like the Los Angeles Dodgers better than the Atlanta Braves. And God doesn\u2019t want your country to win the World Cup more than God wants another country to win it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">God is not hoping that your nation is victorious in the war rather than the nation you are fighting. And God does not support the world\u2019s revolutionaries more than God supports the world\u2019s governments. And God does not align with the values of the Republican Party more than God aligns with the values of the Democratic Party.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It\u2019s time for human beings to let go of their need to believe in a God of preferences. First, we had to let go of our God of the brand name, now we add to that list our God of preferences.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Derailing some really fundamental ideas embraced by many people, it is time to accept the fact that God does not hold the thought that women should never be priests or members of the clergy, that gays should never be allowed to be married, or that non-Christians should never be allowed into heaven.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Difficult as it may be for some people to imagine, God does not, we repeat here for emphasis, prefer Baptists over Hindus, Catholics over Jews, Muslims over Mormons, or any religion over any other religion. God does not even prefer those who believe in God over those who do not believe in God.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>These are not God\u2019s ideas. <\/em>These are the ideas of human beings who <em>think <\/em>that these are God\u2019s ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We said it before and we\u2019ll say it again: God is not a male human being writ large. God is the Supreme Intelligence and the Primal Energy underlying the universe . . . an intelligence and an energy without specific identity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Is it really conceivable that God has a favorite color or a favorite number, a favorite team or a favorite player, a favorite nation or a favorite religion, a favorite gender or a favorite race?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Does it feel realistic that God holds particular political views, or economic views, or social views, or spiritual views? And if so, <em>which ones?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Wait. We don\u2019t have to ask that. The people who hold particular views will tell you which ones. Theirs, <em>of course.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Well . . . while this disrupts the whole story line of people and political parties and nations and religions wanting to insist that they are the lone upholders of moral values and the last bastions of spiritual rectitude on the earth, it is important that humanity come to clarity on the true nature of divinity and the factual aspects of Ultimate Reality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">None of the above means that <em>life <\/em>is against us. God is not on our side in the sense that God favors you over someone else, but <em>life <\/em>is always prepared to give us what we most fervently and feelingly believe we are going to receive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Life proceeds out of your intentions for it. We have been told, \u201cAs you believe, so will it be done unto you,\u201d and that is true. <em>Belief <\/em>is a strong and very powerful energy. It is a magnet. It attracts to us what we firmly expect it to. Yet this is not because \u201cGod is on our side\u201d; this is because God has given us, as described earlier, a mechanism with which to manipulate and affect the raw energy that is All of Life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Life affects life through the process of life itself. The Essential Essence is an energy that has an impact upon Itself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">One who learns how to use this energy in a positive fashion through thought, word, and action has stepped onto the road to mastery in living.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Yet never \u201cpray\u201d or use the power of thought, word, and action to bring you something to the detriment of another. Always remember, there is only One of Us.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If, therefore, you seek something for yourself to the detriment of another, you \u201cwin\u201d with the right hand and \u201close\u201d with the left. Even if you seem to have \u201cwon\u201d in one instance, the experience of how you \u201clost\u201d will visit you in the next.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">When in any sort of situation where your desires are juxtaposed with another\u2019s, say a prayer, or hold the thought, that the outcome that is produced will be the one that is best for all concerned.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This is true spiritual mastery, for it requires and demands nothing, but holds every outcome and experience as perfect. In this awareness is found both freedom and peace.<\/span><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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. The ideas I intend to use this space for in the [&hellip;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[161],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headline"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8809,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8808\/revisions\/8809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}