Is Good God?

Continued from previous post...

The recent Pew Forum found something exceedingly interesting to me:

"Most Americans agree with the statement that many religions – not just their own – can lead to eternal life. Among those who are affiliated with a religious tradition, seven-in-ten say many religions can lead to eternal life. This view is shared by a majority of adherents in nearly all religious traditions, including more than half of members of evangelical Protestant churches (57%)."

Put another way, Jon says in his most recent post:

"because at the end of the day, scripture doesn't say that we must obey it or even believe it in order to be saved. it simply says that we believe in jesus. and even then, that's not the only way that it says we may live...not according to jesus anyway."

I see Jesus as the ultimate example of benevolence that ever walked this earth. In my mind, every manifestation of religion that holds bringing peace and good to other people as a significant part of their doctrine is exemplar of what Jesus stood for. But can we really simplify him in that way? Because in doing so, I must abandon that voice in my head that would say, "We don't get to God by being good".

I have been taught that in Jesus' time, the Jews believed Messiah wouldn't come until their society was "pure" and free from sin. They needed their legalism for the certainty that all their ritual beliefs and practices were followed to the letter. Hence their strong motivation to cast out prostitutes and other sinners. They were good with "Love the Lord your God", but they had entirely missed the rest of the commandments which are summed up by Jesus as "love your neighbor as yourself".

In all my experience as a Christian, it would seem that Jesus' goal wasn't to start a new religion, it was to end all religions; it was for the message that love, not right belief or right action, is the prime directive. He didn't want to save people from their sins, he wanted to save people from themselves and from each other. So, Jesus was all about a feeling, rather than thinking or doing. The Jews of his time didn't like this, because they had religion all thought out; all the thou-shalts and thou-shalt-nots were settled. So they saw this idea of love (rather than right/wrong) as a threat to their religion, because without rules to control sin, how would Messiah ever come?

Therefore Jesus died because of our (humankind's) collective state of selfishness, which is really the root of all evil - putting myself, my wants or needs above any other. Jesus claimed to be of the same God the Jews believed in, but spent most of his ministry years healing, helping, as well as teaching that generosity, peace, and selflessness were the way to God; and this contradicted the Law.

So on to another string for a moment. It's obvious to me that God meant to have relationship with us, the bible is clear about that, as are many other holy texts. However, even if I didn't believe any holy text, I simply cannot deny that there is a divinity I must connect with to remain sane and whole; a divinity which insists I care for others and constantly chasing a better self. It is innate in me, and it's conceivable to me that Jesus intended to eliminate religion by connecting us with this innateness, the power of Love and Good, teaching us to move within it and to act out of it.

If this divinity as any of us understand it is what motivates us to love others, is that all there is to it? So then, what about atheists? They are as able as anyone to be good to others, without any apparent relationship to deity of any kind. Maybe God is whatever motivates us to be good to each other?

In the comments of my previous post, Jon says:

"jesus said elsewhere that the entire law is summed up in this - do unto others as you would have them do unto you. how often is that the benchmark of our actions? how often i see gays, lesbians, metalheads, potheads, hippies, satanists and other[s] living by this principle."

Bottom line here, what's the true nature and extent of grace? Where does it take us if we follow it? Should we worry where we will end up if we do follow grace to it's outer reaches?

There is so much more I want to say on this, but this post is getting rather long so I'll save it for another day.

To be continued....

(I'm perfectly happy to hear disagreements, as long as they are delivered with kindness; due to some recent mean-spirited comments, I must warn that such will be deleted without warning. I also invite anyone who would like to talk more with me about this privately, please feel free to e-mail me, erinword at gmail dot com)